Lost Hopes and Forgotten Souls
by Scarlet Blue Frost
Summary: Erza has spent her entire life in an abusive family. She never knew what it was like to be happy and without wounds. Living in a terrible city where the adults were ignorant and mean, she found no help, and the kids at school were just as bad. What happens when she finds someone who's actually on her side for once? Rated M for later things mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

**Hahaha... So I've gone and started yet** ** _another_** **Fan Fiction. This one is actually a rewrite as the original one was actually terrible. Anyways, I'm writing this with my best friend, Leaf of Shining Moss (I think that's what she goes by on Fan Fiction...) I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Oh, and Grimdark Terezi, I'm still working on your story request. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it until I started organizing all of my documents. Sorry about that, I've been very busy and stressed since school started.**

 **Well, enjoy the first chapter of this Fan Fiction!**

As I sat on my bed, I searched the internet for something to relieve my boredom - just like I had been doing for the past hour. I had already finished my homework, so it's not like that was an option. Just as I was about to give up my search, I saw a link for a site called 'Fairy Chat'. After some hesitation, I decided to click on it. I clicked on the 'Create Account' button.

 _Username: SwordSlash01_

 _Password: ********_

 _Confirm Password: ********_

 _Bio: I enjoy Sword Fighting and eating cake._

 _Hobbies: Sword Fighting…_

My information was vague, but I didn't feel like adding more. Sighing, I clicked 'Done' and joined a chat room called 'Fairy Tail'.

 **SwordSlash01 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **SwordSlash01:** Um... Hi...

 **FlameMouth:** Hi!

 **ShootingStar18:** Hi! :D

 **_FrozenIceMan_:** Hi... You sure have an interesting hobby...

 **SwordSlash01:** Um... Thanks.

 **FlameMouth:** Snowcone, she doesn't want to talk to you!

 **_FrozenIceMan_:** How do you know? Did you ask her?

 **FlameMouth:** Well, no… But you're annoying.

 **_FrozenIceMan_:** Shut up, Flamebrain! I'm not as annoying as you!

 **ShootingStar18:** Guys… Stop arguing; you argue all the time! Plus, don't you think it's rude to Sword...

We talked for a bit longer about some nonsense before I decided to get off. It wasn't all that bad talking to Flame, Ice, and Star; they were actually quite funny. However, I had a feeling my peace would be ruined soon, so I decided to get off while I had the chance.

"Erza, get the fuck down here! Now!" my father shouted, causing me to flinch. I quickly got off my bed and left my room.

Running down the stairs as fast as I could, I called back to him, "What do you need?"

I slowed down as I got closer to the living room, and I paused at the entrance. There was a strong scent of alcohol, and there was no doubt that he was drunk; he's always had a bad drinking habit. Once I entered the living room, I jumped back as an empty beer bottle was hurled my way; the glass shattered at my feet.

"What do you need, father?" I asked, slightly agitated.

My father got off the couch and stalked towards me. He grumbled, "Go make dinner."

"Why can't you make it for once?" I muttered while walking towards the kitchen. Before I could make it far, my father shoved me, causing me to fall to the ground. You'd think that I'd have learned by now not to talk back.

"Don't be a fucking smartass," he growled then walked back to the couch.

Getting up off the ground, I walked to the kitchen and began to make some dinner. I made chicken and mashed potatoes. As soon as it was finished, I gave my father a plate of food then retreated back to my room. Since I couldn't think of anything else to do, I went back on Fairy Chat and joined a different chat room called 'Crime Sorciere'.

 **SwordSlash01 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **LinkWoman37:** Time… Please tell me your name? It's not like I'm going to track you down and stalk you. Plus, I'll tell you mine.

 **TimeArkPower:** The fact that you even mentioned stalking makes me think you would, plus what about Space?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Don't bring me into this… You two can always PM each other. Oh, and hi Sword…

 **LinkWoman37:** Hello, Sword!

 **TimeArkPower:** Hey Sword!

 **SwordSlash01:** Uh… Hi.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Don't mind those two... They always 'argue' about random things.

 **LinkWoman37:** We do not.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Sword, could we just PM each other? That way these two can keep talking without us distracting them.

 **SwordSlash01:** Sure.

 **SwordSlash01 and SpaceNerd84 HAS LEFT THE CHAT.**

I patiently waited for Space to PM me; I definitely didn't want to message him first. Knowing me, I'd probably end up typing something weird. After a minute of just staring at the screen, I got a notification saying I had a new message. I opened it up to read it and reply.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Hey, sorry about Link and Time… They tend to get a little strange.

I smiled to myself and typed a reply.

 **SwordSlash01:** Hello. It's fine, I really don't mind. Link seems very cheerful.

Closing my eyes, I waited for a response. Soon, my Laptop made a 'ding' sound, and I

opened my eyes to see that he replied.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Is that different from how you normally are?

 _Shit…_

I quickly typed my reply and hoped he wouldn't question me further.

 **SwordSlash01:** Sort of… Anyways, what do you want to talk about?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Um… I'm not sure. I see you like sword fighting though.

 **SwordSlash01:** Yeah, it keeps me busy. What do you like to do?

 **SpaceNerd84:** I like to read and draw.

My father suddenly shouted to me, "Erza, there's a mess in the hall! Why the fuck haven't you cleaned it?"

I glared at my closed bedroom door and mumbled, "It wasn't there when I came upstairs…"

Before getting up and seeing what kind of mess I had to pick up this time, I quickly typed a response to Space.

 **SwordSlash01:** Those are nice hobbies. I like reading as well. Anyways, I have to go… I have chores.

Closing my laptop, I stood up and walked over to the door. Just before I got to the door, it swung open and showed my angry father; he glared at me and began to yell again, "Why the hell didn't you come out here right away?"

I flinched and took a step back, "I'm s-sorry... I uh… fell. That's why it took me so long to get here."

It was a terrible lie, and I wasn't surprised when he slapped my cheek and shoved me to the ground. He glared at me and grumbled, "Don't fucking lie to me. Now, go clean the mess in the hall."

I put my hand over the spot I had been slapped. It hurt. When I glanced into the hall, I saw a mess of what could become stains. I knew for a fact that they were all alcohol of some sort.

My father kicked me in the ribs when I didn't get up to clean; I gasped in pain and began to stand up. As soon as I stood up all the way, my father left my room; I waited until I heard his bedroom door click shut.

Quietly, I walked downstairs to get some cleaning supplies. It took me a couple of hours to get all the stains cleaned up; it took longer than usual because I couldn't clean the carpets with the shampooer since it was too loud. By the time I finally finished cleaning the hall, it was almost one in the morning, and I still had to go to school five hours.

Despite me being exhausted after I brought the cleaning supplies back to the basement, I went back onto my laptop. I went on Fairy Chat to see if Space had PMed me while I was cleaning.

He had.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Ah, okay. Let me know when you're done with your chores.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Are you done with your chores yet?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Hello? Sword?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Did you fall asleep or something?

I sat down and typed a response to him.

 **SwordSlash01:** Sorry, I had a lot of chores… We can't talk anymore right now either. It's really late, and I have school later.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Oh okay. I should get some sleep as well. It's my first day at a new school tomorrow, and it's also really late where I am. Goodnight!

 **SwordSlash01:** Goodnight!

Closing my laptop, I stood up and brought it over to my bed. I crouched down next to my bed and pushed my laptop underneath it. After hiding my computer, I got ready for bed, turned out the lights and laid down. I shut my eyes and fell fast asleep.

In the morning, I woke up to my alarm blaring in my ear; I quickly turned it off before it woke my father up. I groaned as I rolled out of bed and sleepily stumbled over to my dresser; I had only gotten five hours of sleep. People generally don't like going to school, but when you get bullied at school, it really makes you dread going.

Still half asleep, I picked out a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black sweatshirt. As soon as I finished brushing my hair, I ran downstairs, put on my tennis shoes, and left the house.

Rather than walking to school, I decided to wait for the bus. I still had a while before the bus would get to my house, so I sat in the grass and pulled out a book. While waiting, I managed to get through four and a half chapters.

When the bus pulled up to the house across the street, I ran over and got on. The only problem with me riding the bus was that I never knew whom to sit by. The people at my school didn't really like me. I smiled when I saw an unfamiliar person with blue hair; before anybody else could, I quickly sat by him. He seemed too busy playing games on his phone to have noticed, and I was very grateful for that.

I'm not sure about all the events that happened on the bus. All I remember is suddenly hearing the faint sound of someone's voice.

"If you want, I can pull her off the seat," the voice chuckled.

"Or I could just wake her up…" another voice retorted. This voice sounded much closer. I suddenly felt someone lightly shaking my arm; I frowned when I opened my eyes and saw that we were at school. Then I realized I was leaning on someone, and I quickly sat up while blushing.

"I'm s-sorry!" I quickly apologized, "I didn't get much sleep last night!"

I instinctively ducked my head, expecting to get hit; when I didn't get hit, I looked up curiously. The boy in front of me didn't seem upset at all about the fact that I had fallen asleep and used his shoulder as a pillow.

"Don't worry about it," he responded, "I don't mind. However, now we have to get off the bus."

Quickly, I stood up and stepped into the aisle; the boy followed close behind me.

"Oh, I'm Jellal by the way," he stated as we got off the bus.

"I'm Erza," I responded as I curiously glanced at him. He quickly fell into step beside me. When I tried to walk faster, he walked faster. Jellal seemed like a nice person, but I didn't want him to get bullied because he was seen talking to me.

Suddenly, I stopped walking and turned to face him, "If you don't want to get picked on by everyone else, you might want to stop following me around."

Jellal just simply shrugged, "I don't care either way. I could definitely just ditch you and be as bad as the other people, but I could also ask if you could help me find where my classes are."

I stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Eventually, I sighed and gave in, "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. What's your schedule?"

He smiled and pulled out a piece of paper then handed it to me. Jellal patiently waited while I looked over his schedule. I let out a small laugh, and he flinched in surprise.

"You're in luck. Your schedule is almost the same as mine; you have only one different class. However, your locker is on the complete opposite end of the school compared to mind, so let's go so we can make it to our lockers before school starts," I stated and began to walk away.

Jellal quickly followed me as I led him to his locker first. It took a while to get to his locker because I was trying to avoid the bullies. While I was waiting for Jellal to finish getting the books he needed, I felt an arm loop around my waist, causing me to flinch.

"I see it didn't take the new kid long to find himself a slut," someone chuckled in my ear. I tried shoving him away, but his grip tightened. Jellal had stopped what he was doing to glare at the person that was holding me, but it only caused him to laugh more, "Don't worry, I don't plan on taking your slut."

"She's not a slut," Jellal retorted.

"How would you know? You just met her. I've known her for a while," they smirked, still not letting go of me.

My body began to tremble as panic set in; I wasn't used to people holding me this close. The last time someone did… Well, it didn't go too well. Jellal must've seen the panic in my eyes because he quickly pulled me away from the person. It hurt a little bit when he did so because the other person had a tight grip on my waist, but it didn't hurt too badly. Jellal put himself between him and me while I tried to calm myself down.

I shakily whispered, "J-Jellal… We sh-should quickly go to my locker then get to class."

Thankfully, Jellal nodded and turned to me, "Let's go then; I have everything I need."

I couldn't help but wonder why he even bothered to help me. He's new at the school, he could choose to ignore me completely or be insanely rude to me. Instead, he turns his back to everyone else and helps me.

We walked back towards the front entrance but went past it and to my locker. I quickly got the things I needed and put my backpack in my locker before speed walking down the halls of the school to mine and Jellal's first class, Science.

In Science, we were sadly allowed to choose our seats. The room was set up with a couple rows of tables, so you had to sit by someone. I didn't get the choice to sit by myself because there wasn't enough spots. Even so, there was only a couple of people that sat at my table, then there was that obnoxious, crowded table in front of me. My table now had another person, Jellal, of course.

After about thirty minutes of class, we were given a project.

"Okay everyone, get a partner, then come get your rubric. Your project will be due at the end of the month," Professor Minerva announced. Students immediately got out of their seats and went over to their friends.

Meanwhile, Jellal turned to me and slightly smiled, "So, do you want to go get the rubric or should I?"

I stared at him in surprise, "You're still willing to be around me?"

"Well, that's why I sort of assumed we were partners for this… And since you haven't responded, I'll just go get the rubric," he stood up and walked over to Professor Minerva before I could respond.

Sighing, I twirled my pencil around on my desk as I waited for him. Soon enough, he was sitting by me again. The other students soon found their seats again and waited for Minerva to give more instructions.

"I'll give you a few minutes to discuss with your partner about the project. We will not have time in class to work on it though. You have to work on it on your own time," she stated then walked over to her desk.

The other students immediately started talking amongst themselves, meanwhile, Jellal and I stayed silent as I looked over the rubric. Jellal suddenly moved, causing me to flinch. When I looked over to him, I saw him glaring at the person from before.

"What do you want now?" I asked in annoyance.

He smirked at me and looked back at Jellal, "I just came to warn your 'friend' here… We wouldn't want you to try to ruin his reputation like you did with Simon."

"Shut up, asshole," I growled.

He gave me an 'innocent' look, "What? You want to frame Jellal fo-"

While he was talking, I had gotten up and shoved him. I didn't like using violence, but he had crossed the line by bringing _that_ up. Thankfully, Professor Minerva didn't notice. I went back to my seat and began looking over the rubric again.

"Erza, what are we going to do for the science project?" Jellal asked, acting as if nothing in the past few minutes had happened.

I shrugged, "She said it has to be something that's review for last year. We could do some sort of astronomy thing."

Jellal smiled, "Let's do that. I love astronomy."

I nodded and wrote our topic on the rubric so we wouldn't forget. Then, Jellal brought up something I hadn't thought about.

"When and where are we going to work on this?" he asked.

"We can work on it after school," I responded quietly, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"Your house or my house?" he quizzed.

"Y-Your house if that's alright… M-My father doesn't like me inviting people over," I stammered.

 _To say the least…_

Jellal raised an eyebrow but didn't mention my stuttering, "Okay. What time works for you?"

"Anytime really… I don't have anything to do," I responded.

"How about right after school then?" he glanced at the clock, probably checking to see how much time we had left before class ended. Although class had practically just started, I doubted Minerva would go back on her word and actually give us worktime.

"Alright, that works perfectly fine," I replied and forced a smile.

"You sure? Feel free to suggest another time…" he smiled.

"I'm sure," I responded quickly.

Someone at the front of the room cleared her throat, and I looked to see Professor Minerva glaring at the class.

"Can I actually start my lesson or do you want to do the other homework with absolutely no way to know what you're doing? Either way is fine with me."

Needless to say, the class quieted down suddenly and she started a lecture on how to properly measure distances. The class was reminded to use metric units and not to estimate like a madman.

 _Tonight's going to be_ great…

 **Did you like it? Leave a review to let me know what you think of it!**

 **Have a great night/day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I got another chapter done! Yay! Although, I'm still trying to complete a chapter for one of my other stories... Heh... Whoops... Anyways, I hope you enjoy the second chapter!**

* * *

After school, Jellal and I walked to his house; turns out, he only lives a few blocks away from me. I didn't tell him that of course. I quietly sat on a chair in his kitchen while he got us some drinks.

Just as he handed me my glass of water, he started talking, "I've been meaning to ask you this all day, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up… How'd you get that mark on your face?"

"Shit, that left a mark?" I put a hand up to my face, feeling the spot where my father had hit me.

 _Did I say that aloud…?_

I looked up to see Jellal staring at me funny.

"I uh…" I paused trying to come up with a believable lie, "I may or may not have slipped and fallen on my face this morning…"

Jellal chuckled slightly, "Ah, so that's it. It'll probably be gone by tomorrow then."

"Yeah, hopefully…" I mumbled under my breath. Then I quickly changed the topic, "So shall we start our Science project?"

"Uh yeah. What exactly are we going to do for it? I'm not exactly sure what's really review for your class..." he laughed, "Actually I don't even know what's review for my class at my old school. I always read ahead in the textbooks."

I smiled, "Let's look at the rubric again."

 **Names _ Hour _ Date _**

 **Review Assignment**

 **Title …..… _/2**

No title? No grade.

Please have a creative title. _Please..._

 **Clear Topic …...…. _/3**

Must be a topic from last year.

Try not to pick something really vague.

For example, do 'Types of Rocks', don't do 'Geology'. If you do, you get a zero.

Don't do the topic, 'Types of Rocks'.

 **Unique Topic …...… Pass or Fail**

If you have the same topic as somebody else in the room, you get a zero. No exceptions.

 **Introduction ….….. _/5**

Must have a thesis statement.

Must have an interesting attention getter.

Must be longer than two lines. You know who you are...

 **Conclusion …..…... _/5**

Must have a thesis statement.

Must have an interesting clincher.

Must be longer than two lines. Yes, the conclusion too.

Can't copy and paste from the introduction.

 **Length …..….… _/10**

 _Must_ be longer than a page.

This does _not_ include the introduction and conclusion.

Just because you copied and pasted the entire Wikipedia article and it's twenty pages, that does not mean you will get a good grade.

Or any grade. I'm not reading that long of a paper.

If you need to add another paragraph, add another one. You will _not_ die.

 **Grammar …..…... _/0**

If you don't have correct spelling or grammar, you will lose points.

As in, you either get zero points in this category or negative points.

 **Completeness …. _/5**

If I have a question after I finish reading your paper, you lose points. I want you to _explain_ your topic.

 **Sources …..… Pass or Fail**

No sources? No grade.

Also, you get a free trip to the principal's office!

At least one in-source citation per paragraph.

All sources should be on a separate sheet of paper in MLA format.

 **Format …...…..… _/10**

Single spaced. No double spacing nonsense in my class.

The font should be Arial or Times New Roman. The size should be 12 point.

Have both of your names, hour, and the date you finished the project, right aligned above your title.

 **Total …...… _/40**

 **You will be emailing this assignment as a Word Document to me at MinervaO at the end of the month. All others will be getting a zero, no exceptions. This is an assessment grade, not daily work. There will be no re-do's. There will be no extra credit.**

"What is she, an English teacher?" Jellal chuckled.

"I heard that she used to be an English teacher," I responded with a smile.

"So what should our main topic be?" he asked.

"The Solar System?," I suggested. It was a fairly simple topic, but there was a lot we could write. Ideas were already forming in my mind.

"Sure-" he was cut off by a loud beeping noise. I quickly pulled out my phone, mumbling an apology.

 **1 new message from: Father**

 **Open** **Close**

I muttered a swear word, hitting 'Open'.

 **Where the hell are you?!**

I glared at my phone and hit 'reply'.

 **I had to stay after school to work on a project.**

Jellal was about to start talking again when I got a reply. I clicked 'Open' once more.

 **You could be doing that here. Come home.**

"Shit," I muttered.

"What's wrong?" Jellal asked quickly, eyes wide.

"Uh nothing… I should probably go home soon though," I replied, trying my best to sound calm.

"What's wrong, Erza?" Jellal repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," I responded again.

He let out a sigh, "Then why did you say 'shit'?"

"I uh… Just um... Forgot about something," I shrugged.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

 **Are you on your way yet? Why didn't you answer me?**

I quickly typed a reply.

 **Sorry! I was having trouble with my locker.**

The phone started beeping again. Damn he was a quick typer.

 **I expect you home within 5 minutes.**

I typed yet another reply.

 **I'll be there soon.**

"I-I have to go now… Sorry," I mumbled, standing up. Jellal looked concerned and at a loss of what to say.

"Um… Okay," Jellal nodded, "Can you come over tomorrow? I know it's the weekend so..."

"Yeah, that's fine. Would noon work?" I responded as I made my way to the door.

"Sure, that's fine," he followed me to the door, "Are you sure everything's okay though?"

"Of course," I forced a smile then quickly left his house.

Now I only had about three minutes to make it home. I found myself sprinting home just so I wouldn't get too harsh of a punishment. When I finally got home, I stood in the entryway trying to catch my breath. Soon after I entered the house though, my father started yelling at me.

"You're late!" he shouted, a beer bottle slipping from his hand. It hit the floor of the living room, cracking as it hit the carpet.

"S-Sorry…" I mumbled shakily, "I tried to make it home on time…"

He took a step closer to me, "Why didn't you come home in the first place?"

"I-I n-needed something at th-the library," I stammered, taking a small step back.

He turned around, grabbing the now empty beer bottle off the floor. As he turned back around to look at me, I took yet another step back, feeling the corner of the wall behind me. He walked into the entryway moving the bottle between his hands.

Then he very quickly slammed the bottle into my cheek. I yelped in pain and my hand shot up to where I had been hit. When I pulled my hand back, there was blood.

"Pick up the mess," he turned around, heading to his room.

I nodded and crouched down to start picking up the larger pieces of glass. Tears and blood rolled down my cheeks, the tears stinging my cuts. Standing back up, I brought the larger pieces of glass to a bucket I kept in the storage room. The bucket was specifically for glass too. After tossing the glass into the bucket, I picked up the bucket, grabbed a broom and dustpan and carried them to the entryway.

After I swept up the smaller bits of glass, I returned the bucket to the storage room and grabbed the shampooer so I could clean up the beer on the carpet. When I finally finished cleaning up the mess, I looked over the wounds on my face. There was quite a few cuts on my face, and I could very clearly see the slap mark from the day before. I doubted that Jellal even came close to believing my lie for that mark because you could slightly see a handprint.

I grabbed a washcloth out of the bathroom closet and began to wash off the blood; I winced in pain as I hit a few smaller glass shards that had stayed in the cuts. After grabbing a tweezers, I carefully began to pluck the glass bits out of my cheek.

When I finished patching up some of the wounds, I walked upstairs and went in my room. I shut the door behind me and pulled my computer out from under my bed, bringing it to my desk. I stared at the computer for a while after opening it, not knowing what to do.

There was a loud knock on my door and I flinched. I closed my computer and walked over to open the door.

"I'm going to the store and then to a friends house," my father said, "Stay in the house. I'll be back by midnight."

"Okay," I responded nervously, "Do you want something to eat before you go? I can quickly make you something."

"I'll be eating there, but I do expect the kitchen to be clean when I get back," he nodded.

"Alright," I mumbled, "I'll start cleaning it right now."

I walked past my father and went back downstairs to the kitchen. It wasn't as messy as I had expected it to be. In fact, it was only as messy as I'd left it. Just as my father was leaving the house, I began to wash the dishes. It only took me a few minutes to wash the dishes since there weren't many to be washed. I then washed the counters and put the few scattered papers into a neat pile.

When I finished cleaning the kitchen, it had only been fifteen minutes since my father left, and after sitting in the living room for a while, I began to contemplate going to Jellal's house to work on the Science project.

 _I did kind of ditch him with no way to contact me…_

The only problem was coming up with an excuse for the cuts on my face.

 _What could cause cuts on somebody's face? It's not like I can say the truth…_

 _Cat's can cause cuts…_

 _I now have a cat._

I ran up to my room to grab my phone and computer, then I ran back downstairs and left the house. In a way, it could seem kind of rude just showing up at Jellal's house, but it was also really rude ditching him.

I walked over to his house, not too much in a hurry, but it'd be better the earlier I got there. Either way I should have plenty of time there.

Upon getting to his house, I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. A woman who slightly resembled Jellal answered the door. She must be his mother. She smiled upon seeing me, but it was obvious she was a bit confused.

"I-Is Jellal here?" I asked, "We have a project to work on for Science."

"Yeah, I'll go get him," she responded, turning away from the door. I heard her call for him, and then soon after saw him turn the corner. He looked surprised to say the least.

"Hi Erza," he greeted me, "Didn't think you'd stop by, but come on in."

"Hi. Uh, sorry about earlier," I slightly smiled, "If you want to, we can work on the Science project now. Unless you're busy with something else."

"Sure, that's fine," he smiled, "Have you ate dinner yet?"

"No, but you don't have to give me anything. I can wait," I responded.

I heard Jellal's mom shout from the other room, "Feel free to eat here! Also, get out of the doorway! You're letting all the cold air in!"

"Here, follow me," Jellal chuckled, "We can go to my room, I have a desk in there,"

"Okay," I stepped further into the house, shutting the door behind me. Around the corner I saw the kitchen where Jellal's mom was making dinner. To the left is the living room where we had worked before. There was a door that led to what I assumed was the bathroom.

We went straight ahead to the stairs. Upstairs there was a hallway with a few rooms. We went into the second room on the right, Jellal's bedroom.

It was a fairly simple room not much bigger than my own. It had bright blue walls, and the room itself was longer than it was wide. A bed laid in the back left corner with a closet alongside it. A dresser was on the opposite wall from his bed, but slightly to the right so it was closer to the center of the wall. A fairly large desk was by the corner closest to us - beside where the door was.

"You can come into the room…" Jellal mumbled awkwardly from the bed, causing me to flinch as I realized I had just been standing by the door.

"Right… Sorry," I stepped into the room and shut the door behind me.

"No need to apologize," Jellal smiled once more, "Feel free to set your computer on the desk and take a seat."

"Sorry," I apologized once more and set my computer on the desk, sitting in the chair as I did so.

For some reason this caused Jellal to chuckle. He walked over to the desk and opened his computer.

"Which one of us should have the document on the computer?" Jellal asked.

"Um… I will…" I mumbled as I opened up a word document. I'd rather be able to have the actual assignment in my possession; I could check it over and also work on it if I had free time at home.

He nodded and started searching for information.

We'd been working for about an hour when there was a knock on the door. I flinched, but luckily Jellal didn't notice as he opened the door for his mom.

"Food's ready, you two," she smiled at me, "Is steak and mashed potatoes good?"

"Y-Yeah," I responded, standing up. We headed back downstairs and slightly past the kitchen. Someone, likely Jellal's dad, was already sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. On the table there was a large bowl of mashed potatoes, a bowl of corn, some gravy, and a small bowl of other vegetables. Cups of water and silverware were at each of the four spots.

Most notably was a plate of steak in the center, each of which cut in half so you could see how well they were done. Most were still a light red and bleeding.

"Sorry!" Jellal's mom apologized, "If you want your steak more done, I can put it back on the grill!"

"It's fine," I smiled.

 _Holy shit… Is this what most families eat for meals?_

"Well, take seat!" Jellal's mom stated cheerfully.

I tentatively walked over to the table and sat down; Jellal sat next to me. Jellal and his parents started putting food on their plates. Suddenly, Jellal gave me his plate and took my empty plate.

"Go ahead and eat," he stated, "Mom always makes more than we need, so you don't have to worry about us running out of food or anything."

"A-Are you sure? I could always leave and come back tom-" I started.

"Just eat," Jellal responded, letting out a small chuckle.

I nodded and began to hesitantly eat. The food was delicious, better than anything I had ever made. I didn't eat all the food on my plate though; I was used to not eating much because I only ever grabbed a little bit. When I was younger, I barely ever got anything, and as I got older and learned to cook, I continued only giving myself small portions.

I looked up to see Jellal's mom elbow his dad.

"Oh, um…" he looked to me, "I'm Joe, Jellal's dad."

"- and I'm Mary, Jellal's mom - obviously." she smiled.

 _Why are they smiling so much…?_

"I'm Erza," I replied quietly.

"Well, Erza, I heard you helped Jellal with his first day of school, is that right?" Mary chuckled as Jellal seemed very interested in his mashed potatoes.

"Uh yeah," I nodded, "We only have one class that we aren't in together."

"That's nice," she nodded, "Do you like your classes?"

"They're okay," I shrugged.

"School is school, I suppose," she shrugged, "Are the people nice?"

Jellal was suddenly _very_ interested in his steak.

"Yeah," I lied, forcing a smile. Jellal paused in cutting his steak.

"Some of them are assholes," he said nonchalantly. He took another bite of steak.

His dad looked up, glaring, "Jellal. Language."

Jellal muttered something under his breath, but otherwise stayed quiet.

"Th-They're not that bad…" I mumbled. Jellal looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"They literally offered to pull you off the bus seat, you told me to ditch you so I wouldn't get picked on, and they called you-" he paused as he coughed, "-they called you names."

"Well it's nothing new," I responded nonchalantly, not seeing what the big deal was.

"Have you talked to your parents about this, Erza?" Joe had a concerned look on his face.

"Uh… N-Not yet," I mumbled awkwardly. Mary frowned, and they all looked to me. Even Jellal.

"You should tell them," Mary smiled softly, "We can help you if you want…"

Jellal looked to what suddenly seemed like the elephant in the room. My cheek. The cuts from 'my cat'. Like I could say that lie so easily now.

"I-It's fine," I stammered, looking away from Jellal, "I c-can talk to him on m-my own."

"Well…" Mary took another bite of vegetables, "If you insist. Now then, enough talk. You should eat more anyways."

"Oh uh… Right," I forced a smile and began eating again. The rest of the dinner continued in awkward silence. I ate _most_ of the food on my plate. Mary practically didn't let me stop eating. Afterwards I brought my plate to the sink like I had seen Joe do earlier. The dishes in the sink were starting to pile up, which oddly bothered me. When was the last time the dishes were done?

I looked to the kitchen clock. 7:47pm glowed in bright red letters on the microwave. I should go home soon. There was a chance Father wouldn't stay at the friends until exactly midnight, and I really shouldn't be risking it anyways.

"Need to go home soon?" Jellal asked as he passed me on his way to the sink.

"Uh… Y-Yeah…" I stammered.

"Oh, I'll give you a ride home!" Mary offered, heading to the sink herself. She grabbed the keys that laid nearby.

"Th-That's not necessary…" I looked to my feet, "I can walk home… It's not th-that far…"

"Maybe not that far while it's light and warm out," Mary argued, "But now it's dark out; dangerous. It's also cold; dangerous. I'll give you a ride. It's not a big deal. Jellal, will you be coming with?"

"Uh…" he paused, "Yes?"

"Um… Okay, I guess?" I awkwardly went back up to Jellal's room to get my computer then went back down to follow Jellal out of the house. He entered the back of a silver van his mom was starting. Jellal moved down a seat to let me in.

"So which way is your house, Erza? Or more so what's your address?" Mary got ready to pull out of the driveway.

"O-Oh, um…" I awkwardly tried to remember my address, "1902 Apple Street... North."

"Oh, that is fairly close," she pulled out of the driveway. Had she been expecting me to be lying?

"Hey Erza?" Jellal looked over to me. I looked over to him.

"If you don't mind, could we trade phone numbers? It'd be better for the project and…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Oh uh, sure," I nodded. We quickly exchanged numbers, and I looked up to see us turn onto my road.

"I'll send a text just to be sure…"

 _Beep! Be-_

 **1 New Message From: Jellal**

 **Open** **Close**

Out of curiosity, I clicked open.

 **Hey, I don't want to ask this in front of my mom, but why do you have cuts on your face?**

 **(This will be awkward if this is the wrong person…)**

I stared at my phone for a moment then stammered, "I-It's f-from my cat."

Jellal started to say something, but just then, the car stopped.

"This it?"

I looked outside to confirm and could barely manage to nod.

 _My father came home early._

* * *

 **Cliffhanger! :-)**

 **Did you like the chapter? If so, please leave a review! Even if you didn't like it, leave a review!**

 **I know it's weird that Jellal started school on a Friday... I honestly don't know why I made it a Friday when he started...**

 **Anyways, have a good day/night!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everybody! Welcome to chapter three! XD Thank you to those of you that reviewed and are following my story.**

 **Now, enjoy the third chapter!**

* * *

"This it?" Mary asked.

I looked outside to confirm and could barely manage to nod.

 _My father came home early._

"Th-Thanks for the ride…" I mumbled then quickly got out of the van. I ran up to the front door and nervously entered the house, closing the door behind me. It reminded me a lot of the first time I had gone home late. Except then I was crying, and I didn't care what happened to me.

It was eerily quiet. Nothing came at me quite yet. I quietly took off my shoes, putting them perfectly in the correct spot. No need to add fuel to the fire later.

 _Where is he? Did he already go to sleep…?_

I headed to the stairs, pausing as I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Ducking, I let out a small shriek as a beer bottle came flying over my head, crashing against the wall behind me. I felt a drop or two land on the back of my neck, but I had a feeling the bottle was almost empty. Which meant…

"Where the _fuck_ were you?" I heard him shout from the dining room. Looking over, I saw him there, surrounded by what seemed to be many empty beer bottles on the counter.

"S-Sorry… I-I had t-to go to the l-library for s-some books," I stammered.

"It takes ten minutes to get to the library from here on foot. Up to thirty to get your books. Ten to get back. You were gone for _two fucking hours._ "

"I-I couldn't f-find the books I needed," I mumbled. I'm not even sure if he heard me.

"And what had I _specifically_ told you?" I flinched as he looked over to his table of beer bottles, " _I told you not to leave!"_

Before I could even think of what to say back, he chucked another bottle. I tried to dodge it like I had the last, but he aimed bottle crashed against my stomach, glass shards piercing into me.

" _Where the fuck were you?"_ he screamed, stepping closer.

"I was at my friends house, working on a project," I responded quickly.

He glared at me, " _Where were you? You don't have friends!"_

"Okay, he's not my friend… I was just forced to work on a project with him," I stated nervously.

"Was that where you were earlier…?" he asked very, _very_ quietly.

"Y-Yes…" my voice cracked.

Father grabbed two beer bottles from the counter, one empty, one full. Ever so slowly he came closer to me. I felt myself hit the wall behind me - the door to the storage room. I hadn't even noticed I'd been backing up.

He got close enough to me to the point where I could smell the beer from his breath, he dropped the full bottle. Then, before it could hit ground, he kicked it. It smashed against his foot, the shards flying into me. The contents of the bottle also hit me and the ground I would have to clean. I yelped in surprise and crouched down more - to the point whereas I had been sitting on the ground with my legs covering my stomach.

" _You fucking bitch!"_ he screamed, "When I say something, you _listen_! _Got it?_ "

"Yes, I-I'm sorry," I whimpered.

" _Liar!"_ I flinched as he put his hand over my head, but nothing made contact. Suddenly I was falling backwards as the wall behind me - no, _the door_ \- moved. He kicked me, pushing me farther into the closet. He threw the other beer bottle, and it hit the ground next to my head. The door behind me slammed shut.

I laid on the ground in shock for a moment before taking out my phone so I could check how much glass I needed to pick up. I winced in pain as I moved. Then I dimly remembered the lightswitch was on the other side of the door, as well as a normally unused lock. Knowing him it'd be locked. I was trapped.

Reaching out to find the bucket I used to pick up glass, I winced as my hand brushed against a few shards from the broken beer bottle. Once I found the bucket, I slowly dragged it over, ignoring the pain in my shoulder and instead focusing on not tipping the almost full bucket.

I slowly moved the glass from the floor, setting it into the bucket one by one, my hands being cut as I did so. Using the dim light from my phone I found all the glass I could that was nearby. Then, I set to work on getting the glass out of my stomach, wincing in pain as I did so.

 _When is he going to let me out?_

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, ignoring the fact that I had blood on my hands and would likely get blood on my phone.

 **1 New Message From: Jellal**

 **Open** **Close**

I clicked 'Open'.

 **Hey Erza, you left your computer in my mom's car. We can drop it off tomorrow if you'd like.**

I quickly replied.

 **It's fine. Just bring it to school on Monday.**

 _Beep! B-_

 **Okay! That's what I told my mom, but well… You know her :-/**

 **How are you doing?**

I clicked 'reply' again.

 **I'm fine. How are you?**

 _Beep-_

 **Good! I'm a bit bored; I might work on the project a bit more. I'd fall asleep early, but I have a feeling I'd just end up staring at the ceiling like I am right now.**

I quietly chuckled and replied.

 **Alright. Sorry I can't help.**

 _Beep! Bee-_

 **Nothing to be sorry about! If anything, I'm the one choosing to work on it. What are you doing?**

 _Lying in a closet covered in beer and my own blood, along with the glass…_

I quickly thought of a lie before responding.

 **I'm just quickly finishing some homework.**

 _Beep! Beep! B-_

 **For what class? We didn't have any homework in our other classes, did we?!**

I flinched.

 _Shit…_

I quickly typed yet another lie.

 **It's work from a few days ago… I have some late work.**

 _Bee-_

 **Oh, okay. Sorry! Well, I'll let you get to that. Goodnight!**

I smiled to myself and replied saying 'Goodnight!'.

The house was silent, so I assumed my father had fallen asleep. I allowed tears to spill out of my eyes, and it didn't stop there. My crying got to the point whereas I had to muffle my sobs. After crying for what seemed like forever, I eventually fell asleep.

I wasn't let out of the storage room until late Sunday night. As soon as I was let out, I slowly made my way to the bathroom where I could look at my wounds better. There were some bruises on my arms and stomach, a few more small cuts on my face, some cuts on my stomach, and there were also the small cuts on my hands from when I was trying to clean up the glass. I carefully cleaned up the wounds and put bandages on the deeper of the wounds, then I went back to the storage closet to finish cleaning the mess. I could take care of the rest of the wounds and the beer smell in the morning.

As I finished picking up the rest of the glass I'd missed before, I looked over to the dining room. Father hadn't cleaned up his mess, and it seemed like it was even worse than before. Beer had fallen onto the carpet in the living room in more than a few spots. The mostly unused table in the dining room now had beer bottles seemingly wherever they would fit. Many six-packs laid by the wall; only a few of which were full.

Luckily the kitchen seemed largely untouched. A few empty bottles were on the counter, but they weren't many. Hopefully most of the other rooms in the house were also still clean…

 _Time to get to work…_

By the time I finished cleaning, it was around 2:30 in the morning. I was exhausted; I could barely even make it to my room. When I did get to my room though, I didn't even bother changing out of my bloody, beer stained clothes. I didn't even turn on the light. As soon as I was in my room, I shut the door and went straight to bed after making sure my alarm was set.

When my alarm went off at five in the morning, I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. I had to get the beer smell off of me before going to school. When I finished showering, I changed into a pair of jeans and a black, long-sleeve shirt. The stench of beer was still present.

 _Fuck._

I quickly finished getting ready for school then made my way outside to the end of my driveway.

When I got on the bus, I immediately looked for Jellal. I gasped in pain as I sat down by him, and I hoped that he hadn't noticed.

"Are you okay?" he asked immediately, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Y-Yeah," I lied, awkwardly looking to my feet. There was an awkward pause as nobody said anything. We were almost at the school when Jellal spoke once more.

"No you're not…" he said as he set my computer on my lap, "What happened?"

"Nothing happened… I was just really clumsy," I shrugged and put my computer in my backpack.

"Clumsiness doesn't give you cuts, _everywhere_." Jellal argued, "I don't see how you're going to school…"

Somebody behind Jellal whispered in his ear, and Jellal quickly turned to glare at him, his fist clenched. I had only caught one word though. _Beer._

"Anyways, we're here now, so let's go," I quickly stood up, instantly regretting it as I did so. The bus dropped us off by a side entrance, meaning I'd have to pass Jellal's locker on the way to my own. I tried to stay ahead of him, but he just sped up.

I let out a sigh of relief as I passed his locker, only to wince as I felt him grab my wrist.

"You're not ditching me…" he stated, opening his locker. I waited there, still lightly trying to pull away from his grip as he got his stuff with one hand. After a while, he let go of my wrist, and I started going to my locker once more, Jellal trailing just behind me.

After getting my stuff, I headed to Science albeit early. It's not like I had anything to do in the time before class started. Jellal continued to follow me. I entered Minerva's room, only to fall as somebody pushed my side. I struggled to hold back a cry of pain.

"What the _fuck_ were you thinking? Detention!" Professor Minerva yelled at whoever had pushed me, "You can't just go around pushing her!"

I didn't get to hear the response past the ringing in my ears. Jellal had quickly came over to me, asking me if I was okay.

"Mhm…" I mumbled, trying - and failing - to get to my feet. Soon Minerva was by me too, picking up my stuff as Jellal helped me up. For some reason, Minerva handed my stuff to Jellal instead of me.

"You're coming to the office with me," Minerva said matter-of-factly, "Come on,"

"But… W-What about class?" I stammered, trying to take my stuff from Jellal, but he held it away from me.

"You are in no condition to go to class," she glanced to me as she started to leave the room. Jellal almost had to drag me with.

"Guys… I'm fine," I attempted to protest against going to the office. Both Jellal and Minerva let out a small laugh. We entered the office and Jellal led me to the nurse as Minerva went to talk to somebody else.

"So, what bri-" the nurse stopped talking as she turned to look at me.

"Take a seat back here," she led me to a small room with a few beds in it. I did as she said, and Jellal sat across from me, on another bed.

"R-Really guys…" I started to protest but Jellal just stared at me. The nurse started to clean some of my wounds better. I bit my lip to keep myself from wincing. Was it impossible for them to at least _pretend_ they didn't see my wounds, like everyone else did?

"Is that all of your wounds, Erza?" the nurse asked as she finished with the wounds on my face and hands.

I nodded, not quite trusting my voice.

"Okay," the nurse nodded, "May I ask how you got these wounds?"

"My cat," I responded quickly. Both of them looked at me funny, but they didn't say anything. Why were they staring at me…? Then I noticed what was in the nurse's hand.

A piece of glass.

I nervously looked down at my feet, not wanting to make eye contact with either of them. I clenched and unclenched fist, trying to distract myself.

"Erza…?" Jellal asked softly, "Do you have a cat?"

I slightly shook my head.

Minerva poked her head into the room, looking at us funny. The nurse waved her over, and she took a seat by Jellal, looking at me.

"So, Erza…" Minerva started, "We're going to have someone bring you home-"

"No," I cut her off.

"- so I was thinking we'd call and have your dad bring you home, okay?" she finished, ignoring my interjection.

 _Fuck… No. No. No…_

"N-No," I responded shakily, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

Minerva sighed, "Erza, we have to conta-"

"Would it be better if you went to my place?" Jellal asked, cutting Minerva off.

"I-If that's o-okay with you…" I stammered.

 _I need to calm the fuck down…_

 _But… I can't. They can't call my father. He'd be pissed off._

"That'd be perfectly fine with my family," Jellal smiled, "Plus my mom can give you better lunch than the school has."

"W-Wait a moment!" Minerva stammered, "The school can't exactly let you leave with someone who isn't your parent, and we have to at least tell them what happened…"

"Can you guys at least call my mom first?" Jellal asked, "She can talk to whoever is in charge…"

"Sure, we'll do that," the nurse agreed before Minerva could say anything.

Jellal's mom was quickly on her way, demanding to talk in person to whoever was in charge. Jellal tried to comfort me, but it wasn't really working. Were they still going to call my father? What would he do when he found out?

Soon I heard Mary's voice, "May I see her, or did I come here for no reason?"

I looked up upon feeling a hand on my own. Mary smiled softly at me.

"How are you feeling, Erza?" she asked.

"I-I'm fine," I mumbled quietly.

 _Why does she care...?_

"I'm going to go see if you can come to our house for a while, okay?" she smiled like her family always seemed to do.

I nodded and awkwardly looked away. She went out of the room, Minerva following her. The nurse went over to her desk to do something, but Jellal stayed by me.

"Did the bell ring?" I asked.

Jellal nodded, "Yeah, a little bit ago. I think Minerva called in a sub though. Then again, she might have just left…"

He chuckled softly, "I can hear my mom yelling at someone…"

"Sorry you're missing class," I apologized. If I had stayed home, he'd be in class, his mom wouldn't be at the school, and Minerva would be teaching her class. Why were they even helping me? I just met Jellal's mom on Friday.

"Why are you apologizing?" Jellal questioned me.

"I-If I had stayed home, none of this would be happening," I mumbled.

"Well yeah," Jellal said bluntly, "but nobody minds helping you. If anything, you gave say Minerva and the nurse stories to tell when they get home. It was probably best that you got your wounds actually looked at by a nurse. My mom had nothing to do today, and she was worried about you anyways. As for myself, well not only was I worried about you too, but I really didn't want to have to go to school today, like any sane person. Not to mention…"

He let out a sigh, "Erza, is it safe for you to be home?"

 _Uh… No._

"Y-Yeah… It's safe," I whispered.

 _It's safe, if you don't consider the fact that my father would be drunk and angry…_

Jellal frowned, not believing me. Luckily he didn't say anything. Mary came into the room shortly after, looking triumphant. She waved the keys that she held in her hand.

"You two are coming with me," she declared, "but we should hurry. I have food to make."

I looked at Mary surprised. How in the world did she get the school to let me leave with her? What about Jellal? He would have no reason to leave.

Jellal nodded standing up, he offered a hand to help me up. I took his hand, and I winced in pain as he carefully pulled me up. His mom slowly led us out of the building. I expected to see her silver van in the parking lot, but it seemed she had decided to park right outside the front door instead. I entered the backseat, still bewildered at what had all happened.

"Wait…" Jellal paused as he was getting in, "How are our backpacks already here?"

"Funny story…" Mary trailed off, not really giving an answer. I tried to take my stuff back from Jellal, but he simply took my backpack and put the stuff inside.

"Y-You don't h-have to take me to your h-house… You c-can just t-take me home," I stammered.

"I'd prefer if you stopped at our place first," Mary gave me an apologetic look, "I've already started making food and I'd hate to have some of it go to waste."

"Oh… Okay," I responded quietly.

 _Why don't they want to get rid of me as soon as possible? They're spending too much time worrying about someone they just met. Worrying about me. Why are they even helping me?_

"How does hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and some fruit sound?" she asked, pulling out of the school parking lot.

"Good," I mumbled then nervously asked, "You're not going to tell my father, right? About what happened?"

Mary looked slightly confused, "No, not if you don't want me to. The school _might_ , but I think I convinced them otherwise."

I nodded and glanced out the window. As I did so, I dug my fingernails into my thigh, still trying to distract myself. The van soon pulled into Jellal's driveway, and I carefully climbed out of the vehicle. Jellal carried both of our backpacks into the house while also helping me, making sure I didn't fall.

"Want something to drink?" Jellal asked as he set our backpacks by the door.

"Y-Yes please," I nodded. Jellal had me sit down at the table while he got me something to drink. He came back with some bubbly brown liquid.

"Hope you don't mind Pepsi," he sat down, sipping from his own cup, "It's all we have other than water."

"I've never had Pepsi before," I responded quietly.

"Really?" Jellal seemed surprised, "Try it. It might sting a little in the back of your throat, but it tastes pretty good."

I took a sip of the Pepsi, but I didn't stop after just one sip. It was really good, plus I hadn't drank anything in the past couple of days.

"Feel free to have some more," Jellal chuckled as I finished the first cup.

I poured myself another cup of Pepsi and finished that almost as quickly as the first cup.

"I'm going to say you like it," Jellal chuckled, still on his first cup.

I smiled, "Yeah…"

"Okay you two," Mary looked to us, "How about Erza rests while I make food? No offense, but it looks like you went to hell and back, dear. I'll wake you when food is done, and then afterwards you can continue your nap. I'd also like to check over your wounds at some point if that's okay."

"A-Are you sure? I could help you make food if you want," I responded.

"No, no, no," she shook her head, "I don't need any help, and you _do_ need rest. Do you usually make food at your place?"

"Uh yeah," I replied nervously, "My father doesn't know how to cook."

Mary laughed, "Reminds me of Joe. He can't cook for the life of him. I mean, he makes steak _well done._ That's like charcoal!"

I let out a small laugh, "So you're sure it's okay for me to just go sleep? You don't need help with anything?"

"Yep!" she smiled, "You can steal Jellal's bed."

"W-Wait, what?" Jellal coughed out a sip of Pepsi.

"Shush, Jellal." Mary chuckled, "You have a guest over; be nice."

"Okay… Uh… Feel free to wake me up if you need anything," I awkwardly responded.

Jellal nodded, "Sure. I'm going to follow you up there and put our computers on the desk if that's alright."

I nodded and began to head to Jellal's room with Jellal close behind me. While he laid our computers on his desk, I awkwardly sat on his bed.

"Feel free to lay down and get comfortable," he pulled over his desk chair and sat down, "I'll just be browsing the internet."

"O-Okay," I laid down and curled into a ball - although it was quite painful to do so. I couldn't fall asleep, so I eventually found myself just staring at the wall. I heard a sigh and moments later a blanket was thrown on top of me.

I whimpered as I stretched and rolled onto my stomach. Silently cursing my wounds, I rolled back over and onto my back. No matter which way I turned, I couldn't get comfortable. I glanced at Jellal then looked up at the ceiling.

"Jellal?" I whispered.

"Yeah, Erza?" he asked, concern lining his voice.

"Do you think it would be alright if your mom checked my wounds now?" I suggested.

"S-Sure?" he nodded, "I'll go get her."

He got up and left the room as I sat up. Moments later, his mom came into the room, and I awkwardly looked down. I hated asking for help; I felt like I was taking advantage of their kindness.

"S-Sorry," I mumbled.

"No need to apologize," she smiled, "Jellal said you wanted me to look at your wounds now, so I had him take over on making food."

I nodded, "M-My wounds were bothering me…"

Mary nodded, "Makes sense. If you don't mind, could you show me _all_ of your wounds?"

Nodding once more, I carefully lifted up the hem of my shirt to show her the wounds on my stomach. I noticed Mary wince slightly.

"I'm going to go get a few medical supplies, okay?" she looked to me.

"Okay," I responded. Just a few moments later she came back, supplies in hand. One of which I noticed was a tweezers.

"I can still see some glass," she explained, noticing me look.

"Can you take these?" she held out some pills, "It'll help with the pain."

I nodded and took the pills from her, swallowing them without even asking for a cup of water. She seemed surprised, setting the cup of water she had for me to the side.

"I'm not going to lie, this will hurt a bit," she said, preparing to take out some of the glass I missed. She used one hand to see into the cut more, the other to take a piece of glass out. I winced each time but didn't back away, and I tried to stop myself from flinching.

After a few minutes, Mary had a fair sized pile of glass on the endstand. She then went to work using some sort of ointment to clean the many cuts. It stung like hell, but I tried my best to stay still so it would go faster. After she was done with that, she used a roller gauze that wrapped around my torso.

"That was the hard part," Mary sighed in relief, "Now can I see your arms?"

I rolled up my sleeves as much as they'd allow me. There were a few scrapes and cuts, but none had glass in them. A minute or two later and they were all covered in various bandages.

Having finished with my wounds, Mary started putting the supplies away. I laid back down under the blankets, relieved as I didn't feel nearly as much pain. Moments after Mary left the room, Jellal came back in.

"Feeling better?" he asked. I gave a weak murmur in reply.

"Well, I have food…" he announced, "So if you aren't too tired…"

I immediately tried sitting up as I remembered I hadn't eaten anything in awhile either. Jellal handed me a plate of food, and I eagerly began to eat.

"When's the last time you ate, anyways?" Jellal asked.

I paused for a moment then continued eating, hoping he wouldn't ask again.

"Erza?"

"Hm?" I asked, finishing up my macaroni and cheese - which had once filled about a third of my plate.

"When's the last time you ate?" he asked once more, now slightly more serious.

"Uh…" I hesitated then very quietly mumbled, "Friday…"

Jellal barely managed to catch the fork that had fallen out of his hand. Friday night had been dinner with his family, of course. I didn't eat anything over the weekend considering where I had been, but how do I explain that?

"Friday…?" he muttered, "Couldn't you eat over the weekend?"

 _Nope._

I awkwardly began to pick at my food, "N-Not exactly..."

"Wh-Why not?" Jellal asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"B-B-Because... I was uh... I uh... Couldn't," I mumbled.

Jellal must've decided not to press, because he didn't ask again, "Well, you can always eat here, Erza, and before you decline, I'm sure my mom would be happy to find you someway to make up for it if you insisted."

I nodded and quickly finished my food. Jellal finished his, then insisted I sleep more.

"We can bring you home around the time you normally would, but you need to get more sleep." he argued.

"O-Okay," I responded and laid down once again. Soon after I laid down, I fell asleep, afraid of what would happen when I got home.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! I know the scene where she's in the closet goes by pretty quickly, but there wasn't much for me to write. She was just sitting there the whole time.**

 **Anyways, please leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! Sorry I didn't update yesterday! I wasn't feeling well all day. Anyways, here's chapter four. Enjoy!**

I felt someone lightly shaking my arm, causing me to flinch. Fear coursed through me until I suddenly remembered where I was. I was at Jellal's house. Jellal looked down at me with a worried expression, and I forced a smile to reassure him.

"It's time for you to go home, unless you'd like to stay longer," he stated softly.

I frowned and sat up, "Okay… I'll see you tomorrow at school then."

Jellal helped me up and began to lead me out of his room. He suddenly paused at the doorway, "Are you sure you're safe at your home?"

"Y-Yeah," I stammered, "W-What time is it?"

"It was 3:18 when I checked," he responded, glancing at the computer. A few minutes probably past since he last checked.

 _Fuck._

"I have to go. Now," I replied, not even bothering to attempt to keep the fear out of my voice. I pushed past Jellal and quickly ran to his front door. I heard him follow me, but I didn't stop. Luckily my backpack had been placed by the door, so I quickly picked it up and left.

Once again, I sprinted home, ignoring the looks people passing by gave me. Luckily I didn't live _too_ far away. I checked the time when I got there, barely making it home by 3:25.

I stood in the entryway, trying to catch my breath. Thankfully, my father wouldn't be upset unless the school called him. I cautiously walked further into the house and grew even more nervous when I didn't see him downstairs. Quickly, I went upstairs and lightly knocked on his bedroom door. There was no response, but I soon heard him snoring from the other side.

Sighing in relief, I went to my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I sat at my desk and smiled when I saw my computer in my backpack. I pulled it out and set it on my desk, opening it as I did so.

I decided to go on Fairy Chat since I had nothing else to do. I logged into my account and looked through the chat rooms. There was: Saber Tooth, Fairy Tail, Crime Sorciere, Blue Pegasus, and Oracion Seis. After a moment of hesitation, I decided to click 'Crime Sorciere'.

 **SwordSlash01 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **LinkWoman37:** B-BUT TIME! PLEASE?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Guys… Would you please shut up for a moment? I didn't come on here to read your arguments… I need help with something.

 **LinkWoman37:** What is it Space?

 **TimeArkPower:** What do you need help with?

 **SpaceNerd84:** I'm not sure how to help my friend… I think she's getting abused.

I quickly typed a reply before Time or Link could.

 **SwordSlash01:** You could try confronting her about it.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Oh, hi Sword. I tried talking to her about it a couple times, but she said she wasn't each time.

Before I could respond, I heard my father's voice, "Erza! You better fucking be here!"

I quickly closed my computer while standing up, and I ran over to my door and opened it. I called to him, "I'm here, Father!"

"You have chores to do! Get the fuck to work!" he yelled.

"What are my chores?" I loudly asked.

"Clean my fucking room!" he shouted.

I quickly ran downstairs to get some cleaning supplies. I grabbed the shampooer and the bucket for glass then made my way back upstairs. Hesitantly, I knocked on my father's bedroom door. When there was no answer, I knocked again.

"Get the fuck in here and start cleaning," he snapped angrily. I quickly entered the room, and I began picking up the beer bottles and tossing them into the bucket.

After a long hour of throwing bottles into a bucket, I began to use the shampooer on the stains while my father just awkwardly sat on his bed staring at the blank TV screen. Just as I finished cleaning the room, my father chucked an empty beer bottle toward me. I shrieked in surprise when it shattered at my feet.

I immediately crouched down and began picking up the pieces of glass, cutting my hands a bit as I did so. I could worry about those wounds later though. Sighing, I stood up and brought the cleaning supplies out of the room. After putting the shampooer and bucket away, I looked around the other rooms to see if they needed to be cleaned.

None of the other rooms were really messy, so I assumed my father had stayed in his room all day. Instead of going straight back to my room, I decided I should start making dinner. Just as I was about to start looking for some food, I realized that my hands were bleeding, so I quickly rinsed off the blood in the sink and put some bandages on the newer wounds.

I decided to make chicken and green beans for dinner, which was a larger meal than I normally made. Luckily the kitchen never really ran out of food, so I had plenty to work with. It took about an hour, but soon I had a plate of food ready for my father. I slowly headed up the stairs, careful not to spill the food, and I knocked on his door.

"If you have food, come in," he called from the other side of the door, "Otherwise, go away and make me some food,"

I carefully opened the door and brought the food over to him then I silently left the room and went back downstairs to get my food. I grabbed a smaller helping for myself, leaving just a bit behind for the morning.

After eating and cleaning up the mess from cooking, I went back to my room. I sat at my desk and opened my computer to go on Fairy Chat.

 **SwordSlash01 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **SwordSlash01:** Sorry for ditching you earlier…

 **SpaceNerd84:** That's fine, thanks for coming back.

 **LinkWoman37:** Why did you ditch us? ;-;

 **SwordSlash01:** I had chores.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Ah, makes sense.

 **LinkWoman37:** Time ditched us too! D:

 **SwordSlash01:** Space, did you figure out how to help your friend?

 **SpaceNerd84:** No, not really. I just don't think she'll tell me the truth if I ask her…

 **SwordSlash01:** Makes sense why she wouldn't...

 **SpaceNerd84:** True, but now I don't know what to do…

 **SwordSlash01:** You could just keep asking her every once in awhile. She'll tell the truth eventually.

 **SpaceNerd84:** But what if something terrible happens before she does?

 **SwordSlash01:** Right… There's that… Um. Well, fuck.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Ugh, what should I do?

 **LinkWoman37:** You could somehow get her to trust you more. Then maybe she'll tell you the truth. However, again, the problem would be the amount of time you have…

 **SpaceNerd84:** Oh, hi there Link. True. I'm just so worried about her ;-; She came to school today with cuts all over her face and hands, and I later found out she had glass still in some wounds on her stomach. The glass looked like beer bottle glass too…

 _Wait… What? No. No. No. I am_ not _talking to Jellal. Not at all. This is someone else that has a friend in the same situation as me. Yup, that's it._

 **LinkWoman37:** Holy shit… Seriously?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Yep.

Nobody typed for a bit. I stared at my computer screen in shock, unsure of what to do.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Sword?

 **SwordSlash01:** Jellal?

I continued to stare at my computer screen, my hands trembling as Jellal didn't type anything.

 **LinkWoman37:** Hmm?

 **LinkWoman37:** Hello?

 **LinkWoman37:** Anyone there…?

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Be-_

 **1 New Message From: Jellal**

 **Open** **Close**

I clicked 'open'.

 **You're fucking kidding me.**

I debated whether or not I should actually respond. Sighing, I hit 'reply'.

 **Uh… Hi…**

 _Beep! Be-_

… **are you?**

I clicked 'reply' again.

 **Nope.**

 _Be-_

 **Why did you have beer glass in your stomach?**

I nervously replied.

 **Okay fine, but it was only the one time. It won't happen again.**

 _Beep! Bee-_

 **The - what I am assuming was a - slap to the face? What about the fact that you well don't have a cat? How do you know it won't happen again?**

 _Fuck…_

 _Um… Any good lies? No? Fuck!_

 **Okay fine… You're right. Happy?**

 _B-_

 **No. No. Nope. NO. I'm not happy. How about you stay at my place for a while?**

I actually considered going to his house. I clicked 'reply' again.

 **My father would kill me if I didn't come home for a few days.**

 _Beep!_

 **He wouldn't get a chance to if you were here. We could get the police involved. You wouldn't be going back until it was safe. What about your mother?**

 _Well fuck._

I quickly typed a reply.

 **I've tried getting the police involved. They didn't believe me because there wasn't enough proof. Not to mention, they suck at their jobs. As for my mother… Well… I don't know where she is.**

 _Beep! Bee-_

I was about to click open when my door suddenly opened instead.

"What is that goddamn noise?" Father asked, annoyed.

I flinched and turned to face him, "S-Sorry… I was texting my partner a-about the science project w-we have…"

"Well be fucking quieter about it…" he grumbled before talking louder, "Clean the living room."

He slammed the door shut behind him. Rather than responding to the text from Jellal, I closed my computer and stood up. I put my computer in my backpack and picked up my backpack after putting some clothes in it. I quietly crept downstairs - just in case my father was down there. Thankfully, he wasn't.

As soon as I knew it was safe for sure, I ran to the front door, quickly put on my shoes, then went outside. I didn't stop running until I was a block away from my house. When I was almost at Jellal's house, my phone started beeping again.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

It wouldn't stop beeping either. Groaning in annoyance, I turned off my phone and slipped it into a pocket of my backpack. I began running once more, realizing that Jellal would be worried since I didn't respond.

By the time I made it to Jellal's front door, I had tears in my eyes, and I was out of breath. Almost as soon as I knocked, Jellal opened the door. I saw a relieved look on his face just before I hugged him tightly. Jellal carefully pulled me in his house and shut the front door. He hugged me back when I refused to let go of him.

"Erza? Are you okay? He didn't hurt you again, did he?" Jellal quizzed. I shook my head and cried some more.

"If it was that easy to figure out… Why did nobody help me in the past?" I whimpered, "I've only known you for a couple days…"

Before Jellal could respond, I heard Mary's voice, "Erza? Are you okay?"

 _Jellal must've told her..._

Mary came into sight moments later, looking both worried and relieved. I nodded in response to her question. Part of me wanted to go back home though, to clean the living room like I was told. Plus, father wouldn't be able to make his own meals when he got hungry.

"Why don't you take a seat on the couch?" Mary suggested, "I'll get you something to drink."

"O-Okay," I mumbled, letting Jellal lead me by the hand. Soon after I sat down, Mary brought me over some Pepsi, which I quickly gulped down. Jellal sat next to me since I wouldn't let go of his hand.

"How are you feeling?" Mary asked, sitting down on the other side of me.

"I-I'm fine…" I whispered, setting down my now empty cup.

"That's good," she smiled, "Are you hungry? I could make you something."

"No, I'm not hungry. I ate not too long ago," I shrugged.

Jellal spoke up, "Want more Pepsi? You drank that one _pretty_ quickly…"

"N-No…" I mumbled, looking down, "I-I should go h-home actually…"

 _Father will be angry when he sees I'm not home… Or maybe he already noticed._

 _I should get home. The punishment won't be as bad then. Right?_

 _I'd probably go without a few meals since I broke a rule though…_

"Like hell you are," Jellal mumbled, "Er… Sorry. That sounded bad, but you can't go back there. Who knows what would happen!"

"B-But… He'll be angry if I'm not home," I quietly argued, "Plus, h-he doesn't know h-how to c-cook… A-And what if- what if he finds out w-where I am? Then I-I'll be in m-more trouble…"

My grip on Jellal's hand tightened as I realized just how angry my father would be if I didn't go back home right away. Jellal looked to me, worried.

"Dear," Mary started, "It'll be much safer if you stay here. He will likely figure out how to cook, assuming he can read the side of a can or something. Also, there is no way he'll find out where you are. You're safe, Erza."

I hesitated for a moment then shook my head, "N-No… H-He'll figure it out. Th-That's what happened last time."

 _Before mom disappeared._

"Last time?" Jellal mumbled, then he thankfully shook his head. Like I'd explain that.

"There is absolutely no way he can find you here, Erza," Mary tried to reassure me.

 _But he will… I know he will._

Rather than responding, I leaned against Jellal and rested my head on his shoulder. He squeezed my hand slightly, resting his own head on mine.

"It's okay…" he mumbled, "It will be okay…"

I closed my eyes and tried to think of something else. Anything except the situation I was currently in. I tried to focus on the positive things, but I couldn't think of any. After a few minutes of trying to think of something, I thought of Fairy Chat.

I slightly smiled and whispered, "We ditched Link."

"Oh!" Jellal started to get up, pulling on my hand a bit. Noticing this, he stopped.

"Uh, mom?" he awkwardly sat back down, "Can you grab our computers?"

Mary quickly nodded, grabbing my computer from by the door and Jellal's from his room. Afterwards she headed to her office. We set them on our laps and quickly started to login. I opened up the chat room.

 **SwordSlash01 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **SpaceNerd84 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **LinkWoman37:** You're back!

 **TimeArkPower:** Err… Hi.

 **SwordSlash01:** Hi...

 **SpaceNerd84:** Hi guys.

 **LinkWoman37:** Where did you two go? What happened?

 **SwordSlash01:** That's a long story… Um… Stuff happened.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Yep. Stuff.

 **LinkWoman37:** Wait… Sword are you the one who…?

 **SwordSlash01:** That's a possibility…

 **TimeArkPower:** Wait, what happened after I left?

 **LinkWoman37** : Space was asking for advice on helping his friend, then Sword said something weird, and then they both got off. :-/

 **SwordSlash01:** Yeah, that basically sums it up. Uh... Sorry for ditching you Link.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Yeah, uh. Oops.

 **TimeArkPower:** What was the 'something weird'?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Err… My name.

 **LinkWoman37:** HA! I found out his name first! You owe me $10, Time!

 **SwordSlash01:** Uh… Should I be concerned that you made a bet on this?

 **SpaceNerd84:** They made a _lot_ of bets. Which they can never pay, considering they don't know each other…

 **LinkWoman37:** You two are lucky. You actually know each other…

"Uh, Erza?" Jellal looked to me, "Link just PM'ed me. Should I be concerned?"

"Um… I'm not sure. What did she say?" I responded.

He opened the PM, frowning as he quickly scanned over the message, "I think she might go to our school… She's asking if I'm the Jellal from Minerva's class…"

"Uh… I'm going to go with she goes to our school… That or she's a really good stalker," I replied, glancing at his screen.

"-and she correctly suspects that you're Erza," he finished, chuckling slightly at what I had said.

"Oh… Well I suppose that makes sense," I mumbled, "You did spend your first day with me, and you wouldn't let me ditch you..."

"True. Apparently there are rumors going around the school on why we were both absent today," he paused, "Some are… not so pleasant…"

"Hm?" I glanced back at his screen, but he turned it away from me. He simply shook his head once as he continued reading what Link had sent him.

"A few people seem to have seen you in the morning, Link being one of them. She's worried about you to say the least." Jellal claimed.

"Why?" I muttered more to myself than to Jellal. There was no need for people to _start_ worrying about me now. They were a _little_ late.

"She says she's always been worried," Jellal said as he typed a reply to her, "but she's been powerless. She feels bad though."

Instead of saying something in response, I shrugged, not completely believing Link. I stared at my computer screen, unsure of what to do. Sighing, I let go of Jellal's hand and walked to the entrance to get my phone. After returning to the couch, I held Jellal's hand again and turned on my phone, prepared for the endless 'beeping'.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

It continued beeping until I was finally able to open all of the messages. Two of the plethora of messages were from Jellal.

 **Don't the police have to check things like that better? Also, sorry about your mom :(**

 **Erza? Did something happen? Are you okay?**

Then I had many, _many_ , messages from my father. Slightly nervous, I started opening them.

 **Where the hell are you?!**

 **Get home. Now.**

 **Erza, answer your fucking fone!**

 **You no the rules Erza. Get back.**

 **Get the fuck back herre.**

 **U still havent cleaned the living room.**

 **Ezra get bak ere.**

 **Im hunggy…**

 **I wil find u.**

I wasn't able to read the other messages. Trembling, I dropped my phone onto the ground as I slightly curled myself into a ball.

"Erza?" Jellal looked over. He tightened his grip on my hand, "Are you okay?"

Nervously, I nodded, bending down to grab my phone which I then set in my lap.

"What happened?" Jellal asked, concerned as he glanced at my phone and back to me.

I shook my head, "I-It's nothing… He's just- just really drunk right now."

"O-Oh," Jellal nodded slightly, glancing back at his computer. Then he quietly whispered, "Does that happen a lot?"

"Y-Yeah," I mumbled, not even trying to lie. Jellal nodded, but he didn't look away from his screen as he scrolled down once more. I leaned closer to Jellal to see what he was looking at. Jellal slightly hid his screen from me, but that only made me want to see it more. I leaned a tiny bit farther.

"You don't want to know," Jellal insisted, shaking his head as he dimmed down the brightness, making that much harder for me to see. He continued scrolling.

"But I _do_ want to know," I argued. He couldn't seriously expect me to just ignore it.

"I-It's just some rumors that are being spread around about you and some of them…" he shook his head, pulling the computer closer to him.

I frowned, "Oh... I've probably heard all of them before anyways."

He paused, "Well, _most_ people seem to think you cut yourself…"

"That's actually a new one..." I mumbled.

"Some of these are really in-depth," Jellal noted, "Like Link sent me a link to a full page of theories about you. Some are _really_ long…"

I let out a slight laugh, "Wow... Do they have nothing better to do than to come up with false things about me?"

Jellal laughed too, "Yep, bet so. I mean, some of these are _really_ out there…"

"There's quite a few mentioning you being a slut, and they're all worded differently," Jellal added, "I feel like they eventually ran out of bad things to say about you… There's a lot of repeated things."

I nodded and pulled my feet up onto the couch. Once again, I leaned against Jellal, still not letting go of his hand. Closing my eyes, I rested my head on his shoulder. Shortly after, I fell asleep.

 **I hope you liked it! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! I'm alive, don't worry! Sorry for the late update, I've been busy lately.**

 **Thank you to those of you who have followed/favorited and reviewed. I appreciate it! I love checking my email at school to see your reviews. So thank you!**

 **Now, enjoy the chapter!**

When I woke up, I was quite surprised to find that I was still in Jellal's living room, sitting on the couch. My head was still resting on Jellal's shoulder, and his head was resting on mine. I attempted to move my hand, but I felt something squeeze my hand; I smiled when I saw Jellal still holding my hand.

 _Why didn't he wake me up? Surely he wasn't comfortable…?_

In my free hand, I held my phone. I carefully flipped it open to see what time it was. 3:45am.

To my surprise, Mary soon came down the steps.

"Oh, you're up this early?" Mary questioned, "I mean, you did fall asleep early but..."

"I fell asleep way earlier than I'm used to," I responded quietly and forced a smile.

"Ah, okay," she nodded, "I'll be leaving here soon; I have some early appointments to go to, and I work a bit from here. You two will have to take the bus to school. Oh wait, do you have some extra clothes?"

"Yes, I do. I put some in my backpack before I left my house," I replied.

"Good; no need to worry about that then," she nodded, "I'll pick you up some essentials on my way back from work, such as a toothbrush."

"Alright. Thank you," I smiled, "Sorry I can't help pay for it."

"No need to worry about it," she insisted, "You don't need to pay for basic necessities."

"You sure? I'm sure I can figure out some way to get money to pay you back…" I responded.

"Of course," she nodded once more, "Don't worry about it,"

"Okay," I replied, placing my phone on the couch beside me.

"Now then, since I bet he forgot his alarm…" Mary sighed, "Can you make sure Jellal wakes up by six? He tends to oversleep…"

I chuckled, "Yeah, I'll wake him up."

"Thank you," she smiled, "Now I'll be on my way. See you later!"

"See you later! Be safe," I responded. She waved in response as she headed out the door, keys in hand. A few moments later I heard the van start and she was on her way.

I was nearly asleep by 6:00am since I was really bored, but I would've felt bad had I moved. Sighing, I tried to figure out how I would wake Jellal up. Eventually, I settled on lightly pushing him away from me.

"Hm?" he blinked his eyes open, slowly letting go of my hand, "Morning already…?"

"Yes, sleepyhead," I smiled, "Your mom said to wake you up at six."

"Ah, okay then," he stretched, slowly getting up, "We should start getting ready for school then. How are you feeling?"

I stood up and stretched, "I'm feeling better than I felt yesterday."

"That's good," he nodded, "Well, I'm going to go to my room to start getting ready. Feel free to steal the bathroom - it's the door to the left of the stairs."

"Okay, thanks," I walked over to my backpack to grab some clothes. While I was grabbing my clothes, Jellal left for his room. I walked over to the bathroom with jeans and a grey T-shirt in hand. Thankfully, I found a brush in the bathroom, so after I changed clothes, I quickly brushed my hair then exited the bathroom.

Soon after, Jellal came down the stairs, greeting me with a wave.

"Did you check your wounds?" he asked.

"No?" I responded, confused. Why would I check my wounds? I didn't get them yesterday…

"You should check them, Erza," Jellal looked slightly concerned, "They might've gotten infected."

I frowned, "Fine, but you're going to have to help me because I'm not quite sure how to tell if they're infected."

"Er… you'll be able to tell," Jellal awkwardly explained, "It would hurt to the touch a bit more and have yellowish pus coming out of it. You _should_ be able to check on your own."

"Okay," I nodded, "I'll be right back then."

I walked back to the bathroom to check my wounds. I still didn't quite understand why I had to, but I did it anyways. Wincing, I took off the bandages around my torso and looked at my wounds through the mirror. Everything seemed normal to me, so I quickly fixed my shirt and exited the bathroom again after throwing away the bandages.

Jellal was standing, holding a roll of roller gauze, "Something tells me you need to add more, considering you likely threw away the old one…"

I frowned, "Do I really need to cover up the wounds again?"

"Yes, Erza," Jellal frowned.

Sighing, I took the roller gauze from him and went back in the bathroom. I held the hem of my shirt up using my mouth so I could wrap the gauze around me easier. When I finished, I fixed my shirt once more and exited the bathroom again.

"There you go," Jellal smiled, taking the gauze from me, "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm not hungry," I responded, silently cursing myself for not saying that I was. I was always hungry in the mornings; I just never wanted to risk waking my father.

"Well, tell me if you change your mind," Jellal started to head to the kitchen, "I'm going to make some… hm… Eggs, I think,"

I quickly followed him and mumbled, "I changed my mind. I'm hungry."

He laughed, "You took your time to think that one through. Want to help by making some toast?"

I smiled, "Of course I want to help."

"Great," he smiled, taking out a pan from one of the cabinets, "The toaster is in the end cabinet,"

I opened the cabinet Jellal said the toaster was in, and I had to stand on my toes just to reach the toaster. Did they really have to put it on the top shelf? After plugging in the toaster, I turned to Jellal to ask where the bread was.

"Basket in the corner," he told me before I could even ask.

I grabbed the bread and put a few slices in the toaster. Soon the eggs and toast were done, and we were happily eating food, pretending school wasn't the next thing in our day. By the time we finished, we had to hurry to catch the bus.

"Ready for school?" Jellal asked in mock excitement.

"Yeah!" I responded with fake enthusiasm, "What could possibly be better than going to school?"

He laughed, "Well, let's go before we have to walk,"

We headed out to the corner of the street, which was only a few houses down. The bus picked us up within a few minutes. A few people gave me weird looks for various reasons, but I ignored them. We found a seat in the middle of the bus. A few people were chatting behind us.

"Hey dude look, _she's_ back."

"Did you hear what happened?"

"No, what?"

"Rumor has it that she- Ow!"

I looked back to see what happened, and I saw a mechanical pencil stuck in his hand. He pulled it out, blood coming along with it.

"May I have that back?" a girl around my age asked from the nearby seat. She had long, pink, curly hair and dark pink eyes - likely from contacts. She was wearing light blue jeans and a light green shirt. She smiled at me and Jellal and waved slightly.

"Well, _can_ I?" she held out her hand.

"Hell no!" the boy pulled his hand away, "You might stab me again!"

The girl glared at him, lowering her hand, "I have more than one pencil, and if you don't give me mine back I'll be asking for two back. Understand?"

"Fine, bitch," the boy muttered, tossing her pencil back. She glared at him for the comment, but didn't say anything as she slipped the blood tipped pencil back into her backpack.

"Um…" Jellal looked to her confused, "Thanks?"

"Uh…" I stared at her, confused. Why did she just stab someone with a pencil?

"No problem, Space," she smiled. Jellal flinched.

She sighed and slightly rolled her eyes, "Don't worry… I'm not a creepy stalker or anything. I'm Link! Or uh… Meredy is my real name."

"Oh, hi Meredy…" Jellal nodded, "Nice to uh… actually meet you,"

"Nice to meet you too! Nice to meet you as well, Erza," Meredy smiled again, "Or to sort of officially meet you that is."

"Uh… Hi?" I responded, still really fucking confused. She was talking to me and not insulting me.

"Well, we're here," Meredy started to stand, "See you around!"

"See you around…" I mumbled quietly, standing up as well.

"Well that was odd," Jellal noted as we got off the bus and headed into the school. I simply nodded.

Suddenly I was falling, having been pushed. As I hit the ground, I heard somebody else scream in pain. I laid there for a moment as I heard shouting above me.

"What the fuck dude!" someone shouted, "You could've broke my nose!"

"Well, you deserved it," I heard Jellal calmly say, "If it makes you feel better, my knuckles _do_ hurt…"

 _Why? Why does he keep helping me? He'd be better off without me around him…_

 _At this rate, he could get himself in trouble just for standing up for me. Meredy could also get in trouble…_

I got to my feet and grabbed Jellal's hand, pulling him away from the other person.

"Hm?" Jellal looked to me, then sighed, "Yeah, let's go."

We headed over to his locker, then mine. Afterwards we still had a bit of time before class, but we went to Minerva's anyways. She looked both relieved and concerned to see us.

"How are you two doing?" she asked, grabbing some papers from her desk.

"Good," I responded forcing a smile. I set my stuff down at my usual seat and sat down, Jellal taking a seat next to me of course.

"Oh, I have all your homework from yesterday," Minerva brought the papers over, "Including from other classes… Ha. Ha. I had a lot of spare time…"

"Thanks," Jellal chuckled.

"Yep!" Minerva smiled, "Oh, shit. Class is going to start soon, and _where is everyone?"_

"Um…" Jellal looked around the empty classroom, "Not here?"

"Well, I do like giving out tardies…" Minerva sighed, "Still people sh-"

Chanting was heard outside the classroom, and Minerva quickly followed the noise. Jellal looked to me and soon we were also heading out the door.

Down the hall a crowd had formed. The word 'Fight' was being chanted and we got there in time just to see someone punch someone else in the jaw. The crowd… booed?

"Ow! Fuck, that hurt my hand…" the girl in the center, perhaps slightly older than me, complained. Moments later the other person, the dude Jellal had punched, hit her in the nose.

" _What's going on here?"_ Minerva screamed, " _Get to class, all of you! You two, those who were fighting, see me. Now."_

The crowd quickly dispersed, leaving only the two in the center, us, and Minerva. The boy quickly ran off with the crowd. The girl simply rubbed her knuckles. She had long, dark purple hair and red eyes.

"There better be a good reason for this…" Minerva glared at the girl.

"Well… I see it as a good reason, but I'm not sure if you will," the girl shrugged then slightly glanced at Jellal, "Plus, I'm not the only one who punched him. The only difference is that I continued fighting…"

Jellal chuckled softly, "... you saw that?"

"What?" Minerva glared at him.

"Anyways…" Jellal took a step back.

"So, what happened, Ultear?" Minerva turned back to her.

"Well…" she nervously laughed, "That's actually a funny story. You see, he bumped into me, so I shoved him out of instinct and then the next thing I knew, we were fighting."

"Really… That's it?" Minerva sighed pulling a pack of pink slips from her pocket, "Well, detention."

Ultear sighed, "I should've seen that coming… Alright then. What about the person I was fighting? Is he going to be in detention too?"

"Yep. I'll tell him if he actually shows up for third block, otherwise… Surprise!" she laughed, "Well I have a class to teach,"

"Oh shit," I mumbled. I had completely forgotten about class for once. Grabbing Jellal by the wrist, I pulled him back to Science with me.

"Yeah, you two. Get there before me and you won't be tardy! _Unlike everyone else…_ " Minerva called out, starting her walk back.

After school, Jellal and I walked back to his house and started on our homework. We spent most of the time working on our Science projects since we hadn't really had the time to work on it. Plus, it was best to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

I suddenly groaned in annoyance, "This is really boring… We've been working for two hours."

"We got a lot done though," he argued, "A lot of research, both the introduction and a rough conclusion, as well as a whole paragraph on the asteroid belt. Although, I am kind of bored."

Yawning, I stood up to stretch, "Let's do something else for a bit."

"Erza, we have to finish our homework first," Jellal pointed out.

I sighed, "I know… I'm just _really_ bored. And hungry. Not too hungry though."

"We can bring snacks in here?" Jellal suggested.

"Okay," I nodded. Jellal stood up and left his room. Moments later, he came back with two bags of chips. He set one on either side of us.

"There, that good?" he asked, sitting down.

"Um… Yeah," I forced a smile.

"Then we can keep working?" he let out a slight chuckle.

I nodded. We continued to work on the project until Jellal's mom told us dinner was ready. Again, Mary didn't let me stop eating after I ate the amount of food I normally ate. She made sure I filled my plate with food and ate everything that was on the plate.

"How are you feeling, Erza?" Mary asked, "Did you check on your injuries?"

"Good," I smiled, "Jellal made me check my injuries this morning."

"Good," she smiled back, "I bought you a toothbrush, hairbrush, some toothpaste, and a few more shirts and jeans you might like. Consider it a gift."

"Th-Thank you," I responded, surprised. Normally I had to 'buy my own things' as father would say. It was more so, he'd buy them, and I'd get punished for not being able to buy them myself.

"Yep, no problem. Anything happen at school?" she questioned.

"Nothing much," Jellal shrugged, "A few fights, but nobody got badly hurt,"

"' _Just_ a few fights,' he says... " I muttered under my breath.

"Okay, so three that I know of," he looked at his food.

" _Three?_ " Mary seemed surprised to say the least, "What happened?"

"Two of them were more one-sided…" I stated, not really wanting to answer her question.

"Er… someone got stabbed with a pencil, someone got punched in the face, and that person later punched someone else in their face after _the other_ person punched their jaw," Jellal finished.

"Were either of you in these fights?" Mary asked, concerned.

"Sort of…" I mumbled.

"Uh… I'm busy eating, just wait," Jellal quickly took another bite of his food as Mary glared at him.

"What. Happened?" she didn't stop glaring.

"Well, um…" Jellal looked at his fork, "Erza got shoved, so somebody else got punched in the face…"

"Really!" Mary shook her head, "You should _avoid_ conflict, Jellal. Even if Erza got hurt."

"I know, I know…" Jellal didn't make eye contact.

"Obviously not…" Mary grumbled.

"Well…" I mumbled, "It could've been worse. He could've been in the fight whereas both people got detention… Although you aren't wrong, Mary."

I looked at Jellal, "Don't worry about me. I _can_ handle whatever they do. Plus, you could've gotten hurt had that jerk decided to punch you rather than complain."

Jellal shrugged, rotating the food on his plate. Mary glared at Jellal.

"I can handle it," he whispered, and I'm not sure if Mary even heard him. I glanced in Jellal's direction but didn't say anything. Instead, I finished eating.

 _Jellal... Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt._

The words remained unspoken though.

The rest of the night was kind of boring to say the least. Jellal and I went on Fairy Chat for a bit but nobody we knew was on. After a while, we decided to call it an early night. Jellal had me take his bed while he slept on the couch. I had tried to argue, but as usual, it didn't work in my favor.

Since I fell asleep early again, I woke up early as well. This time it was about 2:30 am.

 _Another day of hell... I mean school._

 **I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! Oh, and the next chapter will be up Friday night.**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! This is kind of a late update as it's about five hours later than I'd normally update. I am sitting in a very creepy hotel, and I can't wait to leave tomorrow morning. Anyways thank you for your reviews and for following and favoriting the story, and enjoy this chapter!**

I woke Jellal up at six again, and we began to get ready for school. Once again, Jellal made me check my wounds. Although I still didn't understand why he wanted me to so badly, I did as I was told.

Jellal and I made pancakes for breakfast this time, and we finished eating them just in time for the bus. This time we sat towards the front of the bus though, and as soon as we sat down, Meredy sat down next to us - though there wasn't much room on the seat.

Meredy was only half on the seat while Jellal and I were as close together as we could get.

"Hi Meredy," Jellal greeted her, "How are you?"

"Great!" she smiled, "How are you two?"

"Good. Tired." Jellal shrugged, slightly shifting where he was sitting so he could get comfortable. It didn't work for him since he was between Meredy and me.

"Good," I responded, forcing a smile, "I'd be better if I weren't on my way to school though…"

"Yeah, same I suppose," Meredy smiled, "You get all your homework done?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "It took _forever_."

For some reason, I was very talkative. I normally liked to stay silent. Huh, odd.

"Well, at least you-" Meredy stopped as a crumpled up wad of paper landed in her lap. Without opening it she grabbed it and chucked it to the back of the bus.

"Well, at least you got it done," she repeated.

I nodded again but didn't say anything.

"So-" Meredy stopped once more as the _same ball of paper_ landed in her lap. She chucked it back only for another to land in her lap.

"What the _fuck_ ," she muttered, "Fine, I'll open it…"

She started to open it only for her face to go blank as she stared at the page. I tried to look over Jellal to see it, but she quickly turned the page away. Jellal must've seen it too, because he suddenly went still.

" _Fuck… Fuck… Fuck."_ Jellal mumbled.

"What?" I leaned farther over Jellal, trying to see the page. I managed to catch a glimpse before Meredy moved it away once more. I saw my picture, along with the words 'Missing Child'.

My eyes widened and I shouted, "Fuck!"

I began to tremble, and Jellal held my hand, trying to comfort me and calm me down. It didn't work though.

 _Father is going to fucking kill me!_

"I have a feeling that the second we get off the bus, we should go to my place," Jellal whispered, ignoring my outburst. Meredy nodded, half inviting herself.

 _Shit… Shit. Shit!_

I tightly gripped Jellal's hand, only to release his hand when I realized I could hurt him. Eventually, I settled on digging my fingernails into my thighs. There was a chance that would distract me enough to calm down a little.

I saw Jellal pull out his phone, likely to text his mom. She'd be at work though…

Soon the bus pulled up to the school, and being towards the front, we were some of the first ones out. Instead of entering the school, we tried going around the school, only to be stopped.

"Excuse me," we turned around to see some police officers stopping us, "I need you three to come with me,"

"No," I glared at them. Meredy and Jellal both looked at me funny, but they didn't say anything.

"What was that? You are Howard Scarlet's daughter, Erza, correct?" he asked, stepping forward slightly.

"That is me, but I'm still not going with you," I retorted coldly.

He quickly took a step forward, grabbing my arm. Meredy raised her pencil and Jellal gave the dude a death glare. He didn't seem to care.

"Let go of me, you asshole," I tried to pull my arm free, but his grip was too tight.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," he said, taking something - a walkie-talkie? - out of his belt.

"Yes you can," Jellal argued, "Let go of her,"

He ignored him, pressing a button on the walkie-talkie, "Found missing person, Erza Scarlet. With two accomplices. Resisting. Need help."

Someone responded to him, and he put the walkie-talkie down. He quickly grabbed my other arm, and I glared at him.

 _Well, I can't punch him now… Dammit._

"Fucking asshole…" I muttered under my breath, "I'm _not_ going back to my goddamn father."

"I'm sorry, but because you're a minor..." his voice trailed off as more policemen came around the corner.

Before I knew it they were putting handcuffs on all three of us. We were resisting apparently. They tried to separate us into different cars.

"Hey, let me go with her!" Jellal complained, trying to tug away.

"He's coming with me," I glared at the officer that was keeping him away from me, "Unless somebody wants me to complain constantly."

"Fine as long as you two stay quiet." One cop sighed, bringing us both to the same car. Meredy seemed to be talking to another cop, but later went into another cop car, looking upset.

"What's your name?" one asked Jellal, who glared at him.

"Jellal Fernandes," he sighed.

"From Roseville?" the cop asked. Jellal sent him a death glare, remaining silent. I couldn't help but wonder why Jellal suddenly turned a bit harsher than usual.

"So you're the one who-"

"That's irrelevant," Jellal cut him off, still glaring. Now I was really curious. Jellal wasn't really one to interrupt people.

"Jellal?" I glanced in his direction.

"Irrelevant," he repeated himself, looking away. We'd started going to wherever they were taking us. Most likely the police station.

 _What were they about to say?_

 _Whatever… He doesn't have to tell me if he doesn't want to._

Sighing, I looked down and whispered, "I'm scared..."

I'm not sure if the officers even heard me, but I know Jellal did. He had flinched slightly at the sound, but then he moved slightly closer to me. He didn't say anything though.

It wasn't long until we pulled up to a rather large brick building. The police station. My father's work. Would _he_ be there? I shuddered.

"Get out," they ordered as they opened the doors. We shuffled out of the doors, and they brought us inside. To my surprise, Mary and Joe were already there, along with tone other I didn't recognize. Meredy went over to him, and I realized he must be her father.

I looked behind them and immediately started backing up. I bumped into someone who shoved me forwards, so I went over to Jellal instead.

"Okay," someone called, "Go with your respective families and follow a police officer."

Meredy and her family went away to a room down the hall, and Jellal's family followed, although they practically had to drag Jellal. I just stood there, trying to put as much space between me and _him_.

Eventually I had to follow, considering I was being pushed from behind. They brought us into a small conference room where I took a seat closest to the door. _He_ sat next to me, and I edged away slightly as police officers sat on the other side of the table.

"So let's get started then," one police officer started, "Erza, why exactly is there a _missing person_ report for you?"

"Why don't you ask _him_?" I grumbled, edging away from my father until I was on the very edge of my seat.

"She randomly ran off," he sighed, glaring at me.

"'Randomly,' he says," I rolled my eyes, attempting not to show fear. I knew that I'd be big trouble later, but at the moment, I just didn't want to be in the same room as him.

"Okay, why _did_ you run away, Erza?" they asked.

I laughed, "You won't believe me. You didn't believe me last time, and I highly doubt you'd suddenly decide to believe me. After all, 'I'm just a teenager that makes up lies'."

"Well we _can't_ believe you if you don't _tell us_ ," they argued.

"Did you know that it's fucking painful to have glass in your stomach and face?" I muttered, glaring at them, "I got tired of the bullshit I have to deal with."

"Explain," one of the officers sighed.

"I got sick of being abused," I bluntly stated.

"What?!" _he_ exclaimed, "I've never _touched_ you!"

"Liar!" I shouted, and it was likely that the people in the other rooms heard me.

"Both of you, _calm down!_ " one officer started to stand. Both of us shut up, but we were glaring at each other.

"Erza, do you have proof of these wounds?" they asked yet another question.

"These wounds are mostly healed now _because_ I ran away," I growled.

"Erza, do you have proof of these wounds?" they repeated.

"Not anymore," I muttered.

"Then we can't do anythi-" the started but I cut them off.

"I am _not_ going home with him!" I yelled.

"I'm sorry, but as you have no proof and no other living family members…" they continued but I didn't hear much more after that.

 _Wait… What?_

 _Then that means… Mom's… Dead...?_

 _But… But… Then…_

 _How did she die?_

 _Did_ he _kill her?_

"Erza…?" they looked to me as I sat there in shock. Father turned and said something to them, and they nodded. My ears were ringing.

Soon the meeting was deemed 'over', and we left the room. Meredy and Jellal were nowhere to be found as we left the building and started going home. The car ride was silent. Soon we were home.

"There are rules in this family…" he said, his voice tense, "I thought you knew them."

"I do know them. All of them," I replied quietly.

"And yet you broke them?" he questioned as we walked into the house.

"Mom's dead?" I ignored his questioning.

"Yes, she is and has been for a while now." he nodded, "Go to your room. We'll discuss things in the morning."

 _More like, 'go to your room; I need to get really drunk.'_

I nodded anyways and ran up to my room. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I sat in the corner of my room with my knees tucked up against my chest. I had my arms wrapped around my legs and my face buried behind my knees to muffle my sobs.

 _People never believe the victim… Never._

I sat there crying for an hour. Just a little bit after I had wiped my tears away, my door opened and I looked up sharply. The door hadn't opened all the way before a paper bag and my backpack was dropped in the corner. I crawled over to the bag and looked inside.

It was my stuff from Jellal's house. My computer wasn't inside, but it was likely in my backpack. Inside there was my phone, some clothes with the tags still on them, a small baggie with toothpaste and a toothbrush, unopened. Also a bottle labeled 'Pepsi'.

After some hesitation, I decided to hide the Pepsi under my bed and put the clothes in my drawers, and I placed the toothbrush and toothpaste on my dresser.

 _Why is it that the only people that believe me are the people I just met?_

Eventually I laid down in bed, giving up on the day. I stared at the wall for a while, unable to get comfortable. What had happened to the other families?

 _This is all my fault…_

I woke up to pounding on my door. I was instantly sitting up in my bed, my eyes wide with fear.

 _Fuck!_

"Get the fuck out here!" he shouted. I hurried out of bed and ran to my bedroom door, hesitating slightly before opening the door.

Suddenly a fist came flying at my face, hitting me in the cheek. I stumbled back a little bit from the blow. Before I could say anything, he turned around and started walking downstairs.

"I think we should talk in the dining room…" he decided.

Despite my fears, I nodded and quickly followed him. I was more afraid of what would happen if I stayed in my room longer. My cheek throbbed, and I knew it was going to bruise, but I didn't want to worry about that at the moment.

The dining and living rooms had a few beer bottles on the floor, but not any spills that I could see nor glass. Huh, odd.

He took a seat at one of the normally unused dining room chairs. I carefully took a seat at the one across from him, not making eye contact.

"Would you like to explain your reasoning behind all of this?" I could tell he was trying to keep anger out of his voice, but well… he failed.

 _Is he actually trying to sort this out by talking though?_

"Um…" I started, "Well…"

I awkwardly shifted in my seat. How would I explain my reasoning? I didn't want to get Jellal involved in this more than he already was, but I also couldn't lie to my father. He'd kill me if I did.

"I just needed a break," I responded, "School is bad enough, and I couldn't handle coming home to the same thing every night. I needed a break, saw a chance and took it. I'm really sorry, and I won't do it again."

I wasn't lying. I just didn't mention any names or anything like that.

"Needed a break…?" I saw his fist clench, causing me to wince, "Do you know what you could've cost us? I could've lost my job, our _only_ income. We'd be out of necessities, _speaking of which_ … You left me without said cooking. _Do you know what you could've cost us?_ "

I slightly flinched and ducked my head, "I'm really sorry, father. I didn't mean to… A-And I f-felt really bad a-about leaving you without cooking… I promise you I-I won't do it again. It was very stupid of me to do i-in the f-first place."

" _Didn't mean to?"_ his voice rose, " _Of course you meant to!_ Also, if you felt _so_ bad, why didn't you _come back_?"

By now, I was trembling, "I-I didn't come b-back because I… I had i-infected wounds… I n-needed them tr-treated."

Now I was lying - out of fear that is. I was _not_ about to bring Jellal into an argument with my father. Nope. His name wasn't going to be mentioned at all nor his parents names.

"Bullshit." he shook his head, "You've likely had infected wounds in the past but nothing ever came of it. What's the real reason?"

"I r-ran away because I w-wanted to know what it was l-like to feel loved by parents…" I whispered.

He glared at me, and I flinched once more, "I'm not going to argue by saying that I love you - as I don't - but you had your mother for that. Who did you go to?"

"Exactly, I _had_ my mother. She's dead now," I mumbled, "I can't get love from someone who's dead."

I completely ignored his question; there was no way in hell I was bringing Jellal into this.

"Well you know what it felt like. You don't _deserve_ love anyways," he countered.

I laughed, "Don't worry, I've figured that out. I get reminded _every day_ \- as _nobody_ cares about me."

"Good," he stated bluntly, "Now then, _who did you go to_?"

"My friend," I glared at him. Persistent asshole. I was _not_ going to bring Jellal into this.

He laughed, "Try again. You don't have _any_ friends."

"The person I was partners with for the damn Science project," I sighed.

"Name?" he fucking insisted once more.

"No," I growled. I'd rather get hurt than bring Jellal into this. Which seemed very likely…

"Excuse me?" he glared at me, one hand reaching down to the floor where I remembered was beer bottles…

"I'm not telling you his name," I mumbled, looking down at the table.

"Why not? He probably hates you like everyone else does…" he shrugged.

"He may hate me - and I'm fine with that - but I don't hate him. I'm not going to tell you his name," I replied calmly.

Even though I half expected it, the glass bottle still hit me square in the face. I yelped in pain, my hand instantly going up to my face. As expected, there was blood when I looked at my hand. Not just a little bit of blood either. The glass would be difficult to take out, but I could do that later.

"I'm still n-not telling you his n-name," I persisted shakily.

"That's alright. The police already told me anyways," he shrugged.

 _Well fuck._

 _Fuck… Fuck. Fuck!_

"So did you just want an excuse to throw a beer bottle at my face?" I retorted, completely failing at remaining calm.

"No, I was seeing if you would actually do what you're told - _like you're supposed to_. That was just an added bonus," he explained, "Now then, next question. _Why don't you do as you're told?_ "

"In case you haven't noticed, I usually do," I responded, my voice cracking from pain. I couldn't stop myself from trembling more either.

"Not recently," he noted.

"You're right. I've been very disobedient lately, and I honestly don't know why," I responded quietly. I looked down again.

"This needs to stop," he ordered, "You know the rules and you know what happens when you break them. Breaking rules is _never_ good for one's health."

I nodded, "Yes father, I understand. It won't happen again."

"Good. Now then as for punishment…" he started.

 _Shit!_

 _I have a feeling that after this… I most likely won't be going to school for while. Hell, I will probably be barely even walking._

"First of all," he started, "You will no longer be attending school,"

"Wait… What?" my eyes widened in surprise.

"You will not be attending school. According to the state, I will be home-schooling you. However you can assume this will not be the case…" he explained.

I glared at him, "What's the other part of the punishment?"

He quickly threw another beer bottle at me, which I managed to dodge, but followed it with a punch to my already injured face. I screamed in pain. He stood up and started to come around the table, and I quickly stood up as well. I was too slow though - as I stumbled a bit and knocked the chair over.

 _Well, this is going to hurt…_

He shoved the falling chair onto me, causing me to stumble. Before I fell, he grabbed the back of my neck and slammed my head face first onto the table.

I blacked out.

 **So... Erza's father is an asshole... Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! Oh, and next weeks chapter is going to be part of this chapter but in Jellal and Meredy's point of view.**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	7. Chapter 6 and a Half

**Hello! I am so sorry I didn't update sooner; I was kind of lazy all week.**

 **Oh, and not to sound rude or anything, but I do know how abuse cases are. I can see why it would be assumed that I didn't so thank you for trying to help anyways. However, in this FanFiction, Erza is living in a place that isn't very good to live in and the law enforcement isn't very good at their jobs.**

 **Now that I hopefully got that cleared up, I hope you enjoy this chapter. This one is only a half chapter because it's what happened in the last chapter but in Meredy and Jellal's POV's.**

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 **(Jellal's POV)**

I tried pulling against my restraints, but I was dragged along to another room. How could they leave Erza with her father like that? Isn't what's happening obvious? Or was I the only one who had a fucking brain?

Grumbling, I sat down in the seat they pushed me next to. I ignored the first part of the conversation, which probably was about us harboring a runaway. I didn't really care. I was focusing on the _screaming_ I could hear down the hall. Assholes. Did they not have ears, too?

 _What had they done?_

"Jellal?" I flinched, looking back over to the police officers and my parents. Had they asked me a question? Oh. Oops.

"How did you meet Erza?" one of the officers repeated the question.

"School," I shrugged. It was a slight lie. I had technically met her online first, but it's not like I knew that at the time. If anything, they couldn't prove I had met her elsewhere.

"Was there a fight or something?" the other officer asked. I glared at him.

 _Why do they always assume that?_

"No…" I sighed, "I'll have you know that we met when we sat next to each other on the bus…"

"Oh sorry," the first officer responded. I rolled my eyes. He wasn't sorry. They never were.

"It says here on your records-" the other officer started before I cut him off.

"My records don't really have anything to do with this, do they?" I complained. Why were they bringing _that_ into this?

"Actually, if you have a history of this behavior there is reason to suspect-" he continued before getting cut off once more by my mother.

"Are you suggesting _Jellal_ hurt her?" she glared at the police officer.

"Yes, I am. There is a possibility." he argued as I sat there in silence. I really wanted to prove him wrong, but well… he wasn't. I did have a history of fighting. I have been violent before. Even if I didn't touch her, I couldn't really prove that I _wouldn't_.

"What about her father?" I asked, "There's also a chance he's been hurting her. I mean, she went away from him - and towards me - when she saw him."

"I'm afraid there is no proof either way," the police officer sighed.

My father spoke up, "Well have you _looked_ for proof?"

"We have other things to worry about. Unsolved local murders for example." the police officers countered. So? They'd have a local murder on their hands if they don't act soon. By the sounds of it, they were going to send Erza back with her father, and what would happen then?

I kept my mouth shut.

"So then, I think we're done here." the police started to stand, "We'll see if will be dropping charges or not,"

"O-Okay," my mother started to stand.

 _They're treating Erza like an object. Like we stole something from someone. What's wrong with this place?_

I felt my restraints being removed, and I then I felt flesh collide with my fist. I had hit the police officer. Oops.

"Muscle spasm, sorry," I mumbled. Tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **(Meredy's POV)**

Although I walked with them, I really wanted to help Erza. It was bad enough I had been ignoring her for so long, but now this? The one time I finally decide to actually be _helpful_ I'm _helpless._

 _God fucking damnit!_

"Meredy!" my mom sent me a look. I must've said that aloud. Great, just great. This was going _fucking perfectly._

We ended up in a small room with a single table and a few chairs, like you might see on TV. I took a seat across from the police officers, and my parents sat on either side of me.

"Would you like to explain, in your own words, what happened?" they asked me.

Although I wanted to say 'No.', I held myself back, "I-I was just sitting on the b-bus next to the two kids a-and they decided to skip school or something… I followed them to t-try and talk them out of it, b-but then you guys showed up a-and…"

It was times like this when I _loved_ my ability to fake cry.

"Ah, wrong time and place, huh?" they looked to me sympathetically. I nodded.

They talked to my parents for a little bit before letting us go. I quickly got out the room, hearing screaming from down the hall.

"You were lying," my dad pointed out, "Not only were you obviously lying considering the outburst before, but you were fake crying too."

"Was it that obvious?" I sighed, heading out of the building, "I mean, can't you just _pretend_ I was telling the truth?"

"No," he and my mom said at the same time.

"Dammit," I mumbled, getting into the car.

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 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! Oh, and I will be posting chapter seven on Friday.**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	8. Chapter 7

**I am so sorry for the late update guys! I didn't expect to not have internet connection all week! Please forgive me!**

 **Thank you to those who reviewed/followed/favorited!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

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When I woke up, I couldn't see out of my right eye, and I could _barely_ see out of my left eye. My face hurt like hell. I tried to move, but couldn't. My left hand was handcuffed to something above me. I tried to feel around and felt a knob.

 _The storage closet_.

 _Great… Just fucking great._

 _I can't talk to Jellal, I can't even go to school, and I can't even take the glass out of my face. Not to mention that I'll be_ very _hungry and thirsty when I get out… If I get out._

I let out a slight moan of pain, using my right hand to feel my face. I tried to shift into a slightly more comfortable position. It didn't work. Why the hell couldn't I be at Jellal's? Or anywhere but at home?

Suddenly I was pulled backwards as the door - that of which my hand was handcuffed to - was opened. I yelped in surprise.

"Oh, you're up. I figured it's been a few days, so you should probably be hydrated," my father grumbled. He tossed a bottle of water onto the floor in front of me then shut the door, shoving me forward again. I gasped in pain as my face hit my knee.

I reached forward and grabbed the bottle of water. I had to take the cap off using my teeth, and I chugged the water right away.

 _I've been unconscious for a few days already? It must be the weekend then..._

 _I wonder what Jellal thought when I didn't show up for school..._

"Why...?" I whispered to myself, "Why me?"

Tears rolled out of my eyes, stinging my wounds. I whimpered in pain.

I'm not sure how long I was in the storage closet. My father had given me food and water occasionally, but I got nothing to help the pain.

When my father did let me out, it was because he wanted me to cook. I checked to see what month it was while I was cooking. It was November second. It had been a little over a month. My wounds were likely infected - not to mention that they _still_ had _glass_ in them.

As soon as I finished cooking, I served the food to my father then went to the bathroom to look at my wounds. I still couldn't see out of my right eye though. My face was swollen, and I could just barely see _some_ bits of glass.

I shakily went to my father's room and knocked on the door, "F-Father? I-is it okay if I go see a doctor? I'll be able to w-work better. I-I won't t-tell them th-the truth on what happened."

"Then what will you say?" he questioned, calling back.

"I'll tell them I got in a fight with some old friends of mine and things got way out of hand," I responded.

"Fine," he responded, opening the door, "I'll drive you over to the doctors office."

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"Well, let's go." he passed me, heading down the stairs. I quickly followed him. As we went outside, I was surprised to feel the cool air on my skin, only reminding me how long it had been. We headed over to some doctor's office I'd never seen before, a small brick building in the middle of nowhere. Sketchy as it was, I wasn't going to complain.

My father talked to someone at the front desk while I sat in a small chair in the corner. It wasn't long until I was led into a back room by some lady.

"Erza, correct?" she asked.

I nodded, "That's me."

She nodded, "Now then, please take a seat, while I look at your wounds. Do they hurt or did you take something already?"

I sat down and replied, "They hurt, I haven't taken anything yet."

"Oh," she looked surprised, "I'll quickly get you something then."

She left the room and returned with some pills and a glass of water. I swallowed the pills without touching the water. I looked to the lady expectantly.

"This'll hurt a bit as I take some glass out," she warned me, "It looks like you got a bit there…"

I nodded, preventing myself from saying 'I know'. I closed my eyes as she prodded at my wounds with what seemed to be a tweezers. Sitting on my hands to stop myself from lashing out, I felt glass shards come sliding out of my face. Many were against my right eye, which I could barely feel anymore.

At some point she wiped my face off with a damp towel, making me flinch, before she continued. I must've had a lot of blood on my face, huh. A bit afterwards she stopped pulling glass out.

"There, I think that's the last of the glass. Do you feel anymore?" she asked.

I shook my head, "No."

"Good, just checking." she nodded, "Now for some worse news… I'm afraid you're going to need an artificial eye…"

"Oh..." I mumbled, "Okay..."

"Yes, I can recommend a few nice places you can go, but otherwise I can't help with that. I will however need to stitch up a few of your gashes…"

"Alright," I nodded.

She pricked me with something, which alleviated any pain that I would've felt. It took almost an hour before she was done. By then, the painkiller was starting to wear off. I winced as she finished the final stitch.

"That's all of the cut's taken care of." she sighed in exhaustion, "That's all I can do for you. I recommend you take painkillers for a while. Make sure you take out the stitches in about a week. As for your eye, I'll tell your father a few places you guys can go, okay?"

"Okay, thank you," I smiled. Soon after, I was on my way as my father talked to the doctor. They didn't talk long. We were on our way in minutes.

"For your eye," Father said while we were heading home, "I know a few places we can go, but for now you'll have to live without it. I can't afford surgery at the moment. Maybe after my next paycheck."

"Alright..." I mumbled.

"I expect food soon," he said as we pulled up to the driveway.

"I'll start making food as soon as I get inside and to the kitchen," I responded with a nod. As soon as I was in the house, I went straight to the kitchen to make some food.

When I finished cooking and I gave Father his food, I went upstairs to my room. Thankfully, my phone was where I last had it. When I looked at it, it had quite a few messages from Jellal. I decided it would be polite to text him back.

 **Hey Jellal. Just thought I'd tell you that I'm okay.**

Only moments later, he responded.

 _Beep! Be-_

 **Open** **Close**

I immediately opened the message.

 **Oh thank God you're okay! Why didn't you respond to my messages?**

I quickly typed a reply.

 **Sorry. It's a bit complicated. I can't really explain it. Anyways, I won't be attending school anymore. Sorry I couldn't email our project to you.**

 _Bee-_

 **Quit apologizing. I'm just so fucking glad you're okay.**

I typed another reply.

 **Okay is one way you could describe it...**

 _B-_

 **Oh God... What happened?**

I winced, feeling bad for him. He hadn't heard from me in a month, and now I'm telling him I'm not necessarily okay.

 **Um... Well... I'm going to need surgery when my father gets paid again.**

 _Beep! B-_

 **What?! Erza, what the hell did he do to you?**

Flinching, I typed yet another response.

 **It had to do with glass and being trapped in a closet for a month.**

 _Bee-_

 **Erza... I'm sorry I couldn't get them to believe your father hurt you. They said there wasn't proof.**

I quickly typed a response.

 **Don't worry about it. If I couldn't convince them, then I didn't expect you to be able to. I have to go now before my father gets pissed off about my phone beeping. Sorry. I don't think I'll be able to see you anytime soon either. I have to stay in the house from now on.**

He didn't respond - likely because he didn't want to get me in trouble - but I wasn't sure. I tossed my phone to the side and sighed.

 _Jellal... I'm so sorry._

I let him get too involved. I should've just plainly refused to be his Science partner, and I would've never gone to his house. He also probably wouldn't even be associated with me. He'd be better off without me.

Since I had nothing to do, I went to bed early. At least I could sleep comfortably now.

" _Guys, please believe me! I'm not making it up! Simon actually di-"_

" _Shut up, Erza. You shouldn't make up lies because he cheated on you," somebody retorted coldly before I could even finish speaking._

 _Why won't they believe me?_

 _The person and his friend walked away, and I stood there, stunned. How could they not believe me? They're believing whatever Simon tells them… People who used to be my friends… They… They just left me, thinking I was lying. I'm not._

 _After that, whenever there was a new person at the school, I'd hear the occasional whispers of, 'stay away from her; she's a slut'._

 _No matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me. At all. Not one person._

I flinched awake and stared wide eyed at my ceiling.

 _Why did I have to think of_ that _now?_

I carefully crawled out of bed and to my backpack, where my computer surprisingly still was. I opened the computer and made myself comfortable on the floor. Since I likely wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, I decided to go on Fairy Chat. Glancing at the time as I logged in, I noticed it was 2:00am, so it was unlikely that my friends were on. To my surprise, Jellal was.

Needless to say, he had already PM'ed me. I opened the message right away.

 **Spacenerd84:** You're on! At this time of night?

 **SwordSlash01:** Yeah… I'm on… I woke up not too long ago and couldn't fall asleep again. Why are you on? It's late… You should be sleeping.

 **Spacenerd84:** I couldn't sleep to put it simply. I'll deal with my exhaustion in the morning. How are you?

 **SwordSlash01:** I'm fine. How are you?

 **Spacenerd84:** Meh. Tired.

 **SwordSlash01:** Well… It is like two in the morning… :-)

 **Spacenerd84:** Still can't sleep.

 **SwordSlash01:** Yeah… I fell asleep earlier, so I'm not as tired. It would still be nice to be sleeping though.

 **Spacenerd84:** True. Oh, don't worry about the project by the way. I had put it on my computer too at some point, and we were almost done anyways.

 **SwordSlash01:** Okay. Did you get a good grade on it?

 **Spacenerd84:** We got an A-, although Minerva curved the grades, so we aced it! :-)

 **SwordSlash01:** Yay! :-)

 **Spacenerd84:** So… Why do you need surgery?

 **SwordSlash01:** Uh… That's sort of a long story…

 **Spacenerd84:** I've got time.

 _Well fuck. I guess I have to explain now, don't I?_

 **SwordSlash01:** Oh… Right… Well, I uh may or may not have gotten a beer bottle chucked at my face when I wouldn't tell my father the truth.

 **SwordSlash01:** Wait… First I got punched in the face, then I had a beer bottle chucked at my face. After that, I got punched again… Then my face was smashed against a table.

 **SwordSlash01:** The next thing I knew, I was locked in a closet.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Wow. Holy shit. Still, that doesn't explain _surgery…_

 **SwordSlash01:** Right… Surgery… Um, well I had glass embedded in my face for a month straight, and my wounds got really infected. So now… Uh…

 **SpaceNerd84:** Ouch! My god. That oughta hurt. Where do you need surgery?

 _I was trying to avoid that… Dammit!_

 **SwordSlash01:** I need an artificial eye...

 **SpaceNerd84:** What?!

 **SpaceNerd84:** 'I'm fine.' she says, 'I need an artificial eye' she says…

 **SwordSlash01:** So I may have bent the truth a little bit…

 **SpaceNerd84:** A bit.

 **SwordSlash01:** A lot.

 **SpaceNerd84:** A lot.

 **SwordSlash01:** I didn't want you to worry…

 **SpaceNerd84:** Fuck that. Too late for me not to worry. You disappeared off the face of the Earth for a month…

 **SwordSlash01:** Right… But at least my father let me see a doctor about my wounds. It could be worse.

 **SpaceNerd84:** It could be better.

 **SwordSlash01:** Yeah, but it's not.

 **SpaceNerd84:** …

Couldn't Jellal just face the fact that I'd never be free of this hell? It would never get better, and I will always have another injury. That's just how my life is.

 **SwordSlash01:** How has school been?

 **SpaceNerd84:** It's been fine, I guess.

 **SwordSlash01:** -_- How has school been?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Fine.

 **SwordSlash01:** Liar. -_-

 **SpaceNerd84:** It's been as good as school has ever been, honestly.

 **SwordSlash01:** So… Annoying as fuck?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Yeah.

That was not the truth. Nope. I glared at my computer screen.

 **SwordSlash01:** You're not being honest, are you?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Fine. School has been fucking terrible. Besides various bullying, people are talking shit about you. Most everyone assumes you killed yourself. Some are saying good riddance, and that's why somebody got a black eye and concussion, and it's also why I'm suspended for a while.

 **SwordSlash01:** …

 _He got suspended…?_

 _He was supposed to stay out of trouble. Who cares if people are talking shit about me? Right? Yeah…_

 _Oh wait… I care._

 _Why the fuck would they just assume I killed myself though?_

 **SpaceNerd84:** Sorry, Erza.

 **SwordSlash01:** Shut up. I don't care, okay? I was just hoping to keep you out of trouble, but don't you dare apologize for the fucking people at school being assholes.

 **SpaceNerd84:** You shouldn't worry about keeping me out of trouble.

 **SwordSlash01:** I don't care if I shouldn't; I'm going to anyways.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Oh…

I sighed and glanced at my bedroom door.

 **SwordSlash01:** I wish I could be with you right now…

 **SpaceNerd84:** I wish you were here too...

 **SwordSlash01:** I miss you… I actually kind of wish I could go to school. Just to see you. I don't care about anyone else. Just you. It would be nice to see your parents too. This sucks…

It would be nice to run away again. The only thing stopping me was that I had nowhere to go, and I wouldn't have the money for surgery. I couldn't go to Jellal's house - as much as I wanted to - the police would look there first since that's where I was before.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Maybe one day…

 **SwordSlash01:** Can that day be tomorrow? I've already gone a month without seeing you… :-/

 **SpaceNerd84:** No complaints here.

 **SwordSlash01:** I'm sure there'd be complaints from a certain someone that's sleeping a few rooms down the hall right now though…

 **SpaceNerd84:** Right… He shouldn't exist.

 **SwordSlash01:** My thoughts exactly. Or why can't he have a job whereas he needs to go on business trips or something? Then I'd be able to see you.

 **SpaceNerd84:** If only…

I glanced at my bedroom door again. It was very tempting to go visit Jellal, but if I got caught, there's a good chance father would refuse to pay for my surgery. Not to mention other consequences…

 **SpaceNerd84:** Shit. I have to go to bed. Mom woke up for work and…

 **SpaceNerd84:** Did you know it's 4:00am?

 **SpaceNerd84:** Goodnight!

 **SwordSlash01:** Oh shit. It's 4:00am… Goodnight!

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 **Did ya like it? Well, other than the fact that Erza was badly injured, locked in a closet, and needs surgery... Well, leave a review please and let me know what you thought of the chapter! Oh, and to make up for havinglateupdates two weeks in a row, I will have another chapter up this weekend.**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! Happy Easter! I hope you guys are having a great day/night! Anyways, as promised, here's another chapter. I had plenty of time to right this because I unexpectedly got sick. Ugh. It's just cold though; I'll be better in a few days! Well, enjoy the chapter!**

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Nearly half a month later, I got surgery for my eye, and Jellal was suspended yet again. It was nice to at least look normal again - if you didn't count all the scars I had. For once, I was slightly smiling the whole way home. When we got home though, I felt the need to ask my father a question that could be risking my luck.

"Father, would it be okay if I start going back to school?" I asked quietly, "I could get a part-time job, so I would be the one paying for my lunches. Not you. I'd also keep up with my chores, and I won't break the rules."

"No," he didn't seem to give it a second of thought, "That sounds like a stupid idea,"

"Oh… Okay," I mumbled, "Sorry for asking."

"You getting a job doesn't sound as bad, but I'm not risking you running away again," he commented.

I looked out the window and watched the people outside. They all looked so peaceful. So _normal_.

I had tried to be able to see Jellal again, but as expected, it didn't work. I'd likely never see him again. There was no way father would let me see him; he barely trusted me to take the garbage out.

When we got home, I started making dinner while my father went to his room. Within about thirty minutes, I was bringing food to him.

After cleaning up my mess in the kitchen, I went up to my room and laid in bed.

 _What should I do now?_

Before I could come up with anything, Father yelled, "Erza! Go to the store and get some groceries, but don't you fucking dare think of running off!"

 _Wait… What?_

"Okay!" I called back.

 _He's… Trusting me? There has to be a catch. But what?_

I ran downstairs, throwing on a sweatshirt as I did so. When I got downstairs, I quickly put on my shoes, grabbed some money off the counter, and exited the house. I smiled when I got outside and began to walk to the grocery store.

 _Yay! Fresh air!_

Jellal's house was on the way to the grocery store, and I paused at the end of his street. It was so tempting. So damn tempting. Sighing, I continued walking to the grocery store only to pause when I realized I didn't even know what father wanted me to get.

 _Wait… How did he even know we needed groceries? He doesn't even cook. Maybe he checked…?_

No. It was just his excuse to get me out of the house. He was testing me. I quickly turned around, deciding I would go visit Jellal for a few minutes anyways. When I turned around, I ran into someone and jumped in surprise.

"S-Sorry," I stammered. I looked up to see who I ran into, and my eyes widened.

 _Why is_ he _here? He moved a couple years ago…_

"S-Simon," I whispered shakily, "W-What a-are you doing h-here?"

He chuckled, and I took a step back, "You still stutter a lot? I thought you would grow out of that eventually. It's been a few years…"

I looked at him warily before taking another small step back. Quickly, I turned around, but before I could get away from him, he grabbed my wrist. Flinching in surprise, I turned around to try to pull my wrist free. His grip tightened.

"Erza, just let me talk to you for a few minutes," he stated.

"N-No… L-Let g-go of me," I shook my head, still trying to pull away from him. His grip tightened even more, and I winced in pain.

"Just give me a moment," He persisted, his voice slightly harsher.

"No. G-Go a-away," I whimpered.

I heard a voice from behind Simon, "If you don't let go of Erza, I will personally punch your face in, Simon."

I flinched and looked past Simon, "Jellal?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Simon growled, turning to glare at Jellal. I got pulled slightly because he hadn't let go of my wrist.

"Defending my fucking friend," Jellal said bluntly, "Now, are you going to let go of her, or am I going to send you to the hospital again?"

"Again?" I questioned. I sighed in relief as Simons grip loosened.

"She's actually friends with you? I guess she's as stupid as ever…" Simon commented, letting go of my wrist and slightly shoving me to the side. I quickly ran and hid behind Jellal.

"I'm surprised you moved _here_ of all places. Then again, this school usually doesn't expel kids for fighting. The principal just gives them detention or suspends them," he chuckled.

"Well, I'm not an idiot," his fist clenched, "I guess we're friends because _I'm not fucking blind._ "

 _Jellal got expelled? Wait… I'm missing the bigger picture here. Jellal sent Simon to the_ hospital _._

 _What exactly made Jellal do that?_

"Oh, you mean about her father? Yeah, I know," Simon replied, shrugging, "I guess she's _still_ too weak to handle it."

 _He knew?_

Shaking my head, I lightly tugged on Jellal's shirt and whispered, "We should go…"

Jellal didn't listen. Instead, he punched Simon in the jaw. Simon stumbled backwards as Jellal clutched his bleeding, bandaged hand.

 _Why is his hand bandaged?_

"You asshole!" Simon yelled, punching Jellal's nose in return. I'm not quite sure, but I might have shrieked in surprise - though I was expecting Simon to fight back.

"Jellal, let's go," I persisted. I didn't want Jellal to get hurt again. Jellal nodded slightly, a hand covering his nose. We turned to go, but Simon grabbed me once more. Within seconds, Jellal had punched Simon again, screaming in pain as his knuckles continued to bleed.

I trembled in fear and tried to pull my hand away again. This time my main focus was on making sure Jellal didn't get hurt worse than he was. Of course, I still wanted to get away from Simon for other reasons as well.

"Simon, l-leave him a-alone," I mumbled. Simon only laughed in response, his grip tightening on my wrist once more.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I actually did scream in surprise when my phone started beeping.

 _Fuck!_

"S-Simon, let g-go of me. I need to g-go h-home," I tugged even more, but his grip tightened again.

 _I'm going to end up with a mark on my wrist at this rate…_

"Um… No," he retorted.

"Let. Her. Go." Jellal seemed to growl, "Otherwise I fear you may not live to see tomorrow."

Simon hesitated, smiling before pulling me slightly closer to him, "I think I'll keep her."

 _I need to get home._ Now _. Jellal… Help. I can't do anything._

 _Get him the fuck away from me!_

Jellal must've heard me or something because he immediately punched him in the face again, followed by a kick. Jellal must've been on target, considering Simon almost fell to the ground. I quickly tugged myself free of Simon's grip.

"Jellal, we should _definitely_ go now," I stated. Jellal nodded and we quickly walked away. I guess it was more of a jog. We headed towards his house, and when we were far enough away, I slowed down to check my phone. Jellal - of course - stayed roughly the same speed as me the whole time.

 **Were te fuk r u? U shod b hom bie naw…**

I suddenly stopped walking and shouted, "Fuck!"

"What's wrong?" Jellal stopped by me.

"He's _really_ drunk. Again," I whispered shakily.

"My house?" Jellal suggested.

I immediately nodded; I knew I'd most likely regret it later, but I didn't care at the moment. Turning off my phone, I continued towards Jellal's house with Jellal right behind me. Mary seemed to be home. I saw Jellal stiffen a little as he looked at his bleeding knuckles. He was still holding his nose.

Before we could even open the door all the way, Mary was there. She seemed surprised to see me.

"Erza!" she exclaimed, "No wonder Jellal ran out of the house! Speaking of which… _what happened?!"_

"Er…" Jellal mumbled, "Someone was harassing Erza and…"

" _You can't attack people for that. That's illegal…"_ Mary glared at him, "Anyways, come in. It's cold out there."

She led us into the house. Jellal quickly headed to the bathroom while Mary got me something to drink.

"Here you go Erza." she placed some Pepsi on the counter, "Has it been bad?"

"It was only really bad that first month I was home… The rest was fairly normal," I shrugged, drinking some Pepsi.

She sighed, "I'm sorry I couldn't convince the p-police…"

"Don't be sorry. They didn't believe me, so I didn't expect them to believe you," I forced a smile, "Anyways, I'm fine now. Other than what just happened outside…"

She nodded, "I can't believe Jellal acted out _again_ , I mean it makes sense, especially with you there, but _it's illegal to attack people like that…_ "

"Just don't be too hard on him about it. The person he hit is an asshole - excuse my language - and he honestly deserved it. Jellal only punched him because he plainly admit he knew the whole time about my father's abuse," I explained quietly.

 _Who knows how bad Jellal would've hurt him had he known what Simon did to me..._

I then mumbled, "Did Jellal really get expelled from his last school?"

Mary nodded slightly, "Yes… He sent someone - actually a few someones - to the hospital. He had attacked others in school before, but that got him expelled."

"Oh..." I mumbled, "Do you know why he... Why he got into fights?"

It really was none of my business, but I was curious.

"N-Not entirely." she admitted, "It was for various reasons. Most of the time he said it was because they picked on someone else, but I doubt that was the only reason. Sometimes he would just come home pissed off, refusing to say what it was. He's just…"

"I get why he did it sometimes." she continued, "But he well… He can get pissed off _very_ easily. He doesn't like talking about it to me much, but I'm a therapist and a mother. It's my job to help him. I fear he does it for certain reasons, like to just vent off steam, but he won't talk to me about it and-"

"Sorry, Erza." she stopped, "I kind of went off on a tangent there,"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," I responded.

She smiled, "You hungry?"

I shook my head, "No, but thank you."

"I should go home otherwise when father isn't drunk anymore, you and your family will be dragged into his bullshit once more... He'll make sure that your house is the first place checked since I came here last time," I started to stand up.

"I-I know but…" she trailed off slightly.

"But is it safe for you to go, Erza?" I heard Jellal from behind me. I turned to see him sit on the couch behind me. His knuckles were freshly wrapped, along with his nose. He was frowning, not meeting me in the eye.

I looked down, frowning, "N-No... Because I'd be late... And you know how he gets when I'm late."

"C-Could you maybe record it?" he asked quietly, "As much as I want to say you should just stay here, that didn't exactly work out last time, but if you had literal proof…"

"I don't think I'll be able to," I sat down next to Jellal.

"That's okay, but…" he sighed, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know..." I whispered, "I was being as obedient as I could be, but Simon fucked that up for me."

Leaning against Jellal, I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Jellal mumbled.

"It's fine... I should've known he wouldn't be gone forever," I shrugged.

"You shouldn't have to deal with him," Jellal sighed.

"You shouldn't have to deal with him either..." I muttered, holding Jellal's hand. He squeezed it slightly.

"Erza, I-" he cut himself off, "Nevermind."

I looked at him questioningly, "Jellal?"

"It's nothing." he shook his head, "Forget about it,"

"But-" I sighed and slightly shook my head, deciding against questioning him about it.

"Thank you for helping me earlier," I whispered.

"Of course," he smiled, "I wasn't about to watch you _pass my house_ and not do anything. Especially after months. Simon was unexpected, but it was worth seeing you."

 _There's so many things to love about Jellal..._

 _Wait. As a_ friend. _Yes. Just a friend. Yup. I just love him as a friend._

I let out a sigh.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Groaning in annoyance, I glared at my phone and opened the message.

 **Wr r u**

"I didn't think it was possible for him to get more drunk..." I muttered quietly, sitting up straight. I still didn't let go of Jellal's hand yet. I didn't want to.

I typed a reply.

 **Oh, don't worry. I'm perfectly fine... -_- It's not like anything bad could've happened while I was going to the store alone.**

Sighing, I debated whether or not I should head home. I could stay at Jellal's longer and get worse of a punishment or go home and probably not see Jellal for a few more months.

I squeezed Jellal's hand tightly and leaned against him again, "I don't want to leave you, but I also don't want your family to have to deal with the assholes of this town again."

Pulling my feet into the couch, I tucked my knees against my chest and rested my head on Jellal's shoulder once more.

"Please don't leave..." Jellal whispered, so quiet I could barely hear him.

"I guess I'm staying here then," I murmured.

Jellal rested his head on mine and I closed my eyes. I started to doze off.

 _I wish it could be like this forever... Just me and Jellal._

I woke not to my phone, but to Mary gently shaking my arm. I blinked up at her, confused for a moment until I remembered where I was.

"Dinner's ready," she smiled, "Wake Jellal too, okay?"

I nodded and slightly turned toward Jellal. Lightly shaking his arm, I whispered, "Jellal, time to wake up."

"Hm?" he slowly opened his eyes, "Do I have to?"

"You do if you want food!" Mary called, "I made burgers!"

Jellal started getting up slightly faster.

Yawning, I stood up. When I stretched, I realized that I _still_ hadn't let go of Jellal's hand. I let go of his hand, letting out a small laugh.

He chuckled, heading over to the kitchen.

"Can't say no to food!" he chuckled.

I laughed and quickly followed him to the kitchen. Still smiling, I sat down at the table next to Jellal. We grabbed our food which was burgers, chips, and some fruit. A cup of Pepsi was soon set down in front of me. A cup of Pepsi was soon empty.

"So are you staying here, Erza?" Mary asked.

I glanced at Jellal, "Yeah, I'll stay here."

Mary smiled, "I was hoping you'd say that..."

I nodded and began to eat my dinner. Surprisingly, I ended up being the first one done eating. Mary had grabbed a bit more than me, so that made sense. Jellal was eating slower because of his knuckles. Joe wasn't even there. He was probably working.

Also, I had been fairly hungry…

"What are we going to do when my father finds me again?" I mumbled quietly. I really didn't want to bring it up, but I couldn't just ignore it. We all knew it was going to happen.

"We'll deal with it when the time comes," Mary sighed.

Sighing, I nodded and awkwardly stared at the table.

 _Father will be pissed off. That's for sure._

My fist clenched and Jellal lightly rested his hand on mine, trying to calm me down. I couldn't calm down though; I was actually pissed at my father. Why wouldn't he just let me leave? If he left me alone, I wouldn't tell anyone about his cruelty.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I took out my phone, glaring.

 **I know where you are. Come home. Now. Do I need to get the police involved once more? It'll only make things worse. Not only for you, but for your 'friend' too. Either way, the living room, dining room, and kitchen are all messes. The closet could use 'cleaning' too…**

"Dammit..." I muttered, tears forming in my eye.

I stood up and began to walk towards their front door, wiping my tears away. I stopped as a hand grabbed my wrist. I turned to look back, only to have Jellal pull me into a hug.

"Please don't leave," he whispered in my ear, "You don't have to go back."

I stood there stunned for a moment. Did he really want me to stay that badly? He'd get dragged even further into my mess of a life. As the tears came back, I wrapped my arms around Jellal and cried. I didn't even bother holding back; I had kept my sadness locked up for so long. Whenever I had cried, I couldn't cry much because that'd be risking father getting mad.

Now, I loudly sobbed against Jellal's chest, my arms wrapped tightly around him.

"It'll be okay, Erza," he whispered, "We can deal with him. You don't need to worry, okay?"

"You shouldn't have to deal with him though," I whimpered, "You still barely know me, yet you're _still_ willing to help me. Why is that? You could easily just leave me. Abandon me like everyone else."

" _No I couldn't."_ he insisted, "I'm _not_ a complete fucking moron, I'm _not_ fucking cruel, and _I'm not about to stop caring about you, Erza."_

"I'm sorry…" I whispered shakily, "I made it seem like I thought you were heartless just now."

"Heh, didn't even think of it that way," he shrugged, still hugging me.

"You'd be better off without me though," I murmured quietly. As much as I hated saying that aloud, it was the truth and had to be said.

" _Erza, in the last two months I've been suspended twice."_ he shook his head, " _Both were because I almost put someone in the hospital. I think you should think about that for a moment…"_

I actually did think about it for a moment. When I did, I realized it had been me that kept him out of fights before I was taken out of school. I had pulled Jellal away from the assholes at school.

"I'm not leaving," I whispered, "Knowing Father, he'd kill me if I returned home anyways."

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

With my hands shaking, I slightly pulled away from Jellal and looked at my phone.

 **Considering your lack of reply, I called the police. They're on their way. Hope you're happy with your choice, my dear.**

"Fuck," I grumbled harshly.

Mary's phone started going off, and she quickly answered it. She froze in response to whoever called. It was likely the police.

"No," she responded bluntly, "I'm not going to do that. Are you guys even looking into it? Look at her medical records. Please, for her sake."

I let out a small laugh and sarcastically muttered, "I _love_ how they attempt to properly do their job when it comes to their fellow co-worker, but when it comes to something that's actually serious, they brush it to the side."

Mary listened to them for a while before responding once more, "I don't care if it's against the law! Child abuse is also against the law!"

"It's also against the law for me to not be getting an education…" I murmured.

"Oh, is that an option?" Mary suddenly seemed interested in something, "No, I don't think I'll get permission for that. You're with him right? Can I talk to him?"

"Wait… What?" I walked toward the entrance of the kitchen with Jellal right behind me.

Mary glanced at us but didn't say anything, " _Hello, Mr. Scarlet._ I'm Erza's friends mom, Mary. You might remember me from a few months ago."

"She's actually talking to him?" I questioned, "I suppose since there's police officers there, he'd be nicer…"

Mary nodded to me, smiling, "Yes, I know you aren't going to say anything absurd, right? Now then, can you please put the phone on speaker?"

 _Wait… What is she doing? She must be fucking crazy!_

"Oh, it already is?" she smiled once more, "Good. Can the police confirm this? Good."

"Now then, can the police please go through your messages, Mr. Scarlet. I doubt that would be a problem…"

Mary continued, "Yes, I know this isn't exactly proof, but I suggest you go through Erza's medical records, along with her phone history."

"Oh, that'd be great. Please call if you have any questions. Goodbye." Mary hung up the phone, then looked to me, "You'll be staying here for at least a few more days while the police get off their lazy asses."

I smiled, "It's about time they actually did something. Thank you, Mary."

"Of course. I wasn't about to let you go back there…" she sighed, "Anyways, you two should get some sleep. I don't work tomorrow, so I can make breakfast."

I nodded and turned to face Jellal. Before he could say anything, I quickly hugged him, "Thank you for not letting me leave."

"Ha. There was no other option," he hugged me back, "Now then, where do you want to sleep?"

"The couch if you'll let me. You should have your bed since it's, well… _Your_ bed," I murmured.

"Oh, right…" Jellal laughed, "I'll grab you a blanket and pillow from upstairs, okay?"

"Alright," I smiled. I walked out to the living room while Jellal went upstairs. Sighing, I laid down on the couch and curled into a ball. Soon a blanket was tossed on top of me and a pillow by my head. I didn't really move.

"Don't make me drag you onto the pillow…" Jellal warned.

I rolled my eyes and smiled, pulling the pillow under my head, "Happy?"

"Yep!" he nodded, "Well, goodnight, Erza!"

"Goodnight, Jellal," I murmured, closing my eyes.

 _I love you…_

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review and let me know what you thought please!**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hello! I'm here with another chapter! Yay! Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

I groaned in annoyance as I felt someone lightly shaking my arm. Pushing the person's arm away, I rolled over to my other side.

"Erza, are you hungry?" Mary asked, "Because I'm making some breakfast…"

After hesitating for a very brief moment, I rolled over and groggily replied, "Yeah, I'm hungry."

She smiled, "Good. Food isn't quite done yet, so you can take your time getting up. Your father dropped off a bag of stuff - the same one we had gave back - much to my surprise. It's at the front door now."

"Okay," I yawned, sitting up, "Is Jellal up?"

"I think so. He might've gone back to sleep…" she sighed, heading to the kitchen, "If he's not down here when you're done, wake him up."

"Alright," I nodded. I stood up and went to get my bag of stuff. After slightly digging through the bag, I picked out a light grey T-shirt and some jeans. I also grabbed my toothbrush, toothpaste, and hairbrush.

Still sleepy, I walked to the bathroom and changed clothes. After brushing my hair and teeth, I exited the bathroom and walked back to my bag of stuff to put my clothes in it. Jellal wasn't up by the time I was done, so I headed up to his room.

"Jellal?" I knocked on his door.

I vaguely heard swearing behind his door before he answered, "Tell my mom I'll be down in a minute!"

"Okay," I stifled a laugh. Heading down the stairs, I saw Mary set a plate of pancakes on the table. She smiled upon seeing me.

"Looks like you get the first batch," she laughed, "How'd you sleep?"

"Good," I smiled, "Your couch is very comfortable seeing that it's technically the third time I slept there. The first two times I was sitting though."

"Well, that's good!" she laughed, "Now then. _Jellal get down here!"_

"Coming Mom!" I head Jellal yell, coming down the stairs, "Is it okay if Meredy comes over?"

 _Meredy might come over? Good, I'm sure she was worried too._

Staying silent, I began to eat my pancakes. They tasted _amazing_.

"Sure! I can make her pancakes! She'll be glad to see Erza too!" Mary cheered, setting down another plate, "Oh here's your pancakes, sleepyhead."

I chuckled, "Good morning, Jellal."

"Good morning, Erza. Sorry for my rants of swear words…" he awkwardly chuckled in the adorable way he always did – it made me glad he chuckled all the time.

Mary looked over, " _What. Did. You. Say?_ "

"Nothing Mom! Love you!" suddenly Jellal was eating his pancakes. I snickered and continued eating my pancakes.

I quietly commented, "I thought I heard swearing…"

Soon there was knock on the door, and Jellal quickly let Meredy in. She completely ignored him, running to me.

"Erza! You're okay!" she hugged me, "Oh, and are those pancakes? Yum."

 _She sure loves to hug people she barely knows…_

I awkwardly laughed, "Nice to see you too, Meredy."

Mary placed a third plate on the table, "Glad to know Jellal approved you coming over _before_ asking me…"

"Oops?" Jellal looked up, "That could've been an awkward 'no'..."

Mary sighed, placing another plate down as she started to clean up. It had _quite a few_ pancakes on it. I looked up at her curiously.

 _She's not planning on eating_ all _of those, right?_

"Those aren't all for me!" she reassured me, "Extras if anyone wants them!"

Jellal quickly grabbed one, and Meredy followed - despite having not finished a single one of hers. I slightly shook my head, smiling to myself. I didn't need more food. Just a couple of pancakes was good enough.

"So, how have you been, Erza?" Meredy asked, turning her attention away from her pancakes, "Other than the obvious, that is."

"Fairly good. I had surgery recently; that was _great_ ," I nodded. It was great other than the fact that at first I almost punched someone. I got _slightly_ nervous… Okay, _very_ nervous.

"Oh wow. Where'd you get surgery?" she asked, biting into another pancake.

"My right eye. I now have an artificial eye," I responded, shrugging. I should've expected something like that would eventually need to happen seeing that Father had always seemed to aim for my face.

"Ouch." she winced, "Well, at least you got surgery."

"Yeah. I technically had to wait a month and a half, but I didn't need the surgery the whole time. Probably after half a month for sure," I shrugged, taking a small bite of pancake, "It hurt like hell to get glass out of my face…"

"I'd think so," Meredy nodded, "Now then, Jellal, have you hit _anyone else_ between the time you got suspended last and now?"

"Heh, heh…Funny story..." Jellal chuckled, "I saw Erza on the street getting harassed by _an old friend of mine_ and uh… Heh."

"Wait, you knew him?" Mary looked up, concerned, "Who was it?"

"Um… Um…" Jellal poked his pancakes, "Simon."

" _Jellal!"_ Mary glared at him, and I awkwardly looked down, " _Why didn't you tell me?_ "

 _Oh… Right… Jellal sent Simon to the hospital before… Of course Mary would be upset, and of course that would be very concerning._

" _Well..._ " Jellal continued poking his food, "Seeing Erza was more important."

 _How is seeing me important to him?_

Meredy muttered something I didn't hear, causing Jellal to send her a death glare. I raised an eyebrow at them then shook my head before either of them could say anything.

"Jellal…" Mary caused him to flinch, "You need to tell me about these things…"

"You don't even know why I hit him _the first time_!" Jellal complained, "You can't say if I was right or wrong if you don't know…"

"Well, if you would tell me-"

"No." Jellal shook his head as he continued eating.

I glanced in Jellal's direction; he was suddenly more on the defensive side. I frowned but continued eating. Nobody said anything for quite some time.

When I finished eating, I quietly brought my plate to the sink then went to the living room to sit on the couch. I ended up laying back down though as I was very bored and tired. I knew I'd probably regret letting myself fall asleep since I was likely to have a nightmare.

"I could use a good nap…" Meredy mumbled.

"Did you come here just for the food?" Jellal asked her, laughing.

"Maybe…" she chuckled, "Can I steal your bed too?"

"Do I have a say in the matter?" Jellal chuckled, "Sure, go ahead. I'll just play on my computer."

Eventually, I closed my eyes and dozed off once more. Now, I'd prefer not to go into detail about the dream I had, but let's just say it involved Simon and me waking up screaming and crying…

"Erza!" Jellal came rushing to my side, "Are you okay?"

I hugged Jellal tightly as I tried to calm myself down. It wasn't working though. Actually, it wasn't even close to working.

"It was just a dream…" I whispered shakily to myself.

Jellal nodded, "You're safe, Erza. You're safe."

My grip around him tightened as I tried to slow my breathing.

"Please don't let him touch me again…" I whimpered quietly when my breathing became somewhat normal. He would likely think I was talking about my father, but I sure as hell wasn't.

Jellal froze for a moment before responding quietly, "I won't. Don't worry Erza. You're safe."

After a few more minutes, I calmed down quite a bit. My breathing had returned completely back to normal, and I had stopped trembling. I didn't stop hugging Jellal though - my grip loosened - but I wasn't ready to let go. He hugged me back.

"You okay, Erza?" he asked quietly.

I nodded and whispered, "I'll be fine… Sorry for worrying you."

He shouldn't have to worry about me. After all, I was still sort of a stranger to him; he shouldn't have even had to be taking care of me. For some reason he did though.

"No apologizing," he shook his head, "None."

 _I don't get why he doesn't like me apologizing… I have to apologize for everything because everything I do is wrong… Right?_

"But-" I started to protest but thought better of it. He'd have a better argument anyways; he always did. Both him and Mary could easily win any argument.

"I deal with worrying; it's worth it." he continued, hugging me tightly.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled again. As far as I knew - since he moved here - he was worrying about me. I was sure he worried about other things as well, but he worried about me a lot.

"Did you not hear me?" he shook his head and muttered, " _No apologizing._ "

"Okay," I murmured, nodding, "I won't apologize."

 _I won't because you don't want me to._

"Good," he chuckled, "Now then, want some Pepsi?"

I nodded, letting out a small laugh. We headed over to the kitchen, grabbing ourselves two small bottles.

"Jellal?" I murmured, taking a sip of my Pepsi, "Never mind… I already know the answer."

 _Would he ever hurt me?_

 _No. He wouldn't. I completely trust that he wouldn't._

"Well, what was the question?" Jellal asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He'd think I didn't trust him if I told him the question.

I shook my head, "It was a stupid question."

"If you insist," he shrugged, taking a sip of his Pepsi. He didn't ever need to know the question.

"I don't mean to put you on the spot by asking this, but…" I hesitated for a moment then quietly continued, "If Simon were to hurt me, what would you do?"

"See if you were okay, first," he answered without hesitating, "As for Simon… Depends how bad he hurt you. I'd _at least_ kick him in the nuts."

"I figured you'd say something like that… That wasn't my question from before though just so you know," I nodded. It was nice to know he'd help me and not abandon me like everyone else.

Jellal nodded, "Got it. Hopefully we'll never have to worry about it."

"Yeah…" I awkwardly picked at the cover of my Pepsi bottle, "Are you sure you're not upset that I worried you?"

 _Most times people would be upset…_

"Of course not," he chuckled, "I'd rather worry and have you be fine than not worry when you're hurt. Also, I doubted that you'd be _hurt_ when you had been sleeping moments before…"

 _He's really not upset…? Why doesn't he get mad at me? He's not even yelling at me…?_

"Okay," I mumbled, finishing my Pepsi.

"Don't worry about it," he insisted, a small smile on his face.

"Alright, if you're sure," I forced a smile. He was quite strange compared to other people I had been around, but I liked him.

 _He never gets upset with me… That's weird._

"I'm sure," he nodded, " _I'm also sure I just saw Meredy peek down from the stairs…_ "

" _Dammit!"_ Meredy came down the stairs and childishly stomped into the kitchen, causing Jellal to chuckle, "I couldn't hide any better, but... But…"

Meredy smiled as Jellal glared at her, "If you say what I think you want to say…"

"Would you threaten your friend?" Meredy pouted.

"Yes," Jellal said bluntly.

"Guys… You're being weird," I stated bluntly.

"Yep!" Meredy chuckled, "Sorry, Erza. Jellal's just being mean…"

"No, I'm actually not." Jellal frowned, "You're the one being mean."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

 _They argue a lot… It's kind of funny though – even though I never know what they're talking about._

"Yes, you are, Meredy." Jellal chuckled, "Anyways, what do you guys want to do?"

He still looked really fucking adorable when he chuckled. I had to force myself _not_ to stare at him.

"Um… I don't know," I shrugged, "I would suggest sword fighting but… We aren't at my house and that's not a hobby many people have."

I did have a swordfighting room at my house. It mostly went unused especially since mom went away, but it was still there. Mom was also the one to teach me how to swordfight, but after she went away, I hadn't really wanted to even go in that room.

"Oh, right…" Meredy chuckled nervously, "Right…"

I laughed, "Yeah…"

"We could go for a walk," Meredy suggested, smiling, "But then again… That involves other people."

"True… Erza?" Jellal looked to me questioningly.

"I don't care. Whatever you two want to do," I responded. They should be able to do what they want; I didn't want to be the one holding them back.

"So a walk?" Meredy asked hopefully, and Jellal sighed, nodding.

We walked to the front door and put on our shoes. Just as I was about to leave the house, Jellal grabbed my arm.

"You're putting on a sweatshirt," he murmured, "It's cold outside."

 _Does it really matter? I've gone outside on cold days plenty of times without having a sweatshirt or jacket…_

I sighed, "Fine."

There was no way I'd be able to bring myself to say 'no' to him. I put on a sweatshirt, and we left the house.

We walked for a bit, and I quietly listened to Meredy and Jellal talking. Even though I was listening to them the whole time, I had no idea what they were talking about. Mostly because Jellal kept cutting Meredy off.

"Why don't you just-" Meredy started.

"No." Jellal cut her off, shaking his head.

"But you do-" Meredy insisted, folding her arms across her chest.

"No." he shook his head.

"Yes you d-" Meredy tried again.

"No." Jellal interrupted once more.

"It's obvio-" Meredy smirked.

"No." he retorted.

"It's only three w-"

"No."

"Yes it i-"

"No."

I suddenly realized I was holding Jellal's hand. On the bright side, I felt safer holding Jellal's hand.

 _When did this happen though? I don't remember holding his hand at all… Oh well._

Meredy started laughing, but Jellal just glared at her.

"I'm pretty sure she-" Meredy started, confusing me even more.

"No. No. No," Jellal shook his head, "No."

"Um…" I raised an eyebrow, "Guys?"

 _They're really confusing at times…_

"No." Jellal shook his head, "No."

"Uh…" I mumbled. I shook my head and decided not to question them. They were too confusing for me.

We continued walking for a while, Jellal and Meredy still bickering. We weren't walking in any particular direction, really. The wind started picking up, and I was glad Jellal forced me to bring a sweatshirt. After all, I got cold easily due to being underweight.

Suddenly, I noticed footsteps behind us. I stopped walking, causing Jellal and Meredy to stop. When we turned around, we saw Simon. I whimpered slightly.

" _What the fuck are you doing here?"_ Jellal stepped in front of Meredy and me.

"Do you really think I'd just give up after you punched me a couple of times? I'm here for Erza. I told her I wanted to talk to her," he smirked, glancing at me.

"Fuck off," I retorted coldly, "We both know you never wanted to talk."

I didn't know why, but with Jellal there, I was braver than I normally was. I didn't even stutter when I talked to Simon.

"I also kicked you in the nuts," Jellal noted, "Also, you can talk from the distance you are at right now…"

"Or from farther away…" I muttered. I was _really_ hoping they would continue not trusting Simon.

"Sorry, but I need to talk to Erza _alone_ ," Simon retorted, completely ignoring my comment.

I shook my head and my body began to tremble slightly, "No."

"No, you don't," Jellal argued, "You really _don't._ "

Simon looked at me and smirked, "Well I'm sure Erza wouldn't want to talk about it in front of her _friends_."

"Shut up," I replied shakily, "Shut _the fuck_ up."

"You can always just walk away and not ' _talk'_ to her…" Jellal argued, "That's an option. It'll save you a hospital visit."

My body began to tremble more, and I took a small step away from them. I sat on the ground, my arms wrapped around my legs as I tried to calm myself down. Dammit…

 _Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!_

"Or you and Meredy could walk away, and I could talk to her," Simon retorted.

"No, I _couldn't_ do that," Jellal shook his head and glared at him, "Are you asking to be sent to the hospital again? Do you not think I _will_ send you to the hospital? _You are not touching Erza._ "

Simon laughed, "I'll have you know, I've gotten stronger since then. Anyways, I _am_ going to talk to Erza one way or another."

"Quit fucking lying," I glared at him, "You don't want to fucking talk."

 _Jellal and Meredy_ had _to know he was lying. They_ had _to know they couldn't leave me with him._

"I've also gotten stronger, idiot," Jellal glared at him, his voice harsh, "Anyways, _no you're not. You are not going to fucking touch Erza. She's gone through enough. She doesn't need to deal with you."_

"Shut up Jellal, and just let me talk to her. It's not like you actually care about her. You aren't capable of caring about someone. You'll probably just end up hurting her," Simon replied.

"Jellal would never hurt me," I muttered. I knew Simon was just trying to get to me, and he knew exactly how. However, I knew all too well Jellal wouldn't hurt me.

"If I wasn't capable of caring you wouldn't've ever gone to the hospital, I wouldn't've got expelled, and nobody would've been half-dead." Jellal glared at him.

 _What? Um… Jellal?_

"Really now? Because on the records it says that you hurt me _and_ someone else," Simon retorted with a smug look on his face.

"Yeah, because you were just 'talking' to her before, when I almost killed both of you." Jellal glared at him, "That's _totally_ what happened."

 _Now I'm really fucking confused. Jellal?_

Simon chuckled, "That's right."

"It's not like you were the one who almost killed her," Jellal said dryly, "I think you can tell why I wouldn't want you _talking_ to Erza…"

"Is that so?" Simon looked at me, "Erza do you want them to hear our conversation - I'm sure you could guess what I want to talk about."

"You'd likely get punched in the face. _Not_ just by Jellal," I glared at him, standing up, "Even so, if they weren't here, you wouldn't be fucking talking so quit fucking lying."

"Yeah, I have a feeling it'd be worse than talking." Jellal glared at him once more, his fists clenched, "Now then, do you want to go to the hospital or not?"

Simon chuckled, "Whatever. You won't be there to protect her all the time. Erza, be lucky you found yourself a bodyguard."

With that, he turned around and walked away. I hugged Jellal tightly and whimpered.

"It's okay, Erza," he whispered, hugging me back, "It's okay."

Meredy shakily came over to us, "Jellal, your mom is on the way to bring us back to your place."

Jellal nodded slightly, not letting go of me.

"That jerk!" I muttered, "Can't he just leave me alone? He's already hurt me enough."

It wasn't long before Mary showed up, and we all quickly got in the back of the van.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked, worry clear on her face, "No injuries?"

"None," Meredy replied then glanced at me and hesitantly added, "Well, none physically…"

I awkwardly looked down as I tried not to cry. Jellal held my hand and tried to keep me calm.

"Dammit…" I mumbled, wiping away the tears that rolled down my cheek. We pulled into Jellal's driveway and got out of the car. Mary and Meredy were walking quicker than Jellal and me. I was walking slowly because I was still a bit shaky, and Jellal was walking slowly because he wanted to stay by me.

"It'll be okay, Erza." he whispered, holding my hand, "He can't get to you,"

I nodded and murmured, "I know… I know… Being around him just- just gives me b-bad memories…"

Jellal nodded, "Anything I can do?"

"N-No…" I mumbled, "J-Just don't leave me…"

 _I would never be okay again if Jellal left me… He easily came into my life, and my heart would shatter if he left just as easily as he came._

"Of course," he smiled, "I wouldn't dream of it."

I slightly smiled, "Th-Thank you…"

* * *

 **Well, what did you think of chapter nine? Please leave a review and let me know!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello! I'm back with another chapter! Yay! I should really stop using so many exclamation points; I'm not that excited about stuff in real life. Well, unless it's anime, manga, music, rain or snow. XD Well, anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The day passed by in a blur. We spent the day in a courtroom because Mary was trying to gain custody over me. I'm not exactly sure what happened. I was answering questions perfectly fine, but I'm not even sure how it ended.

"Erza?" Jellal poked me from where we sat in the van, "You doing alright? You look a little out of it,"

I slightly flinched, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just… Just uh… Thinking."

"We won, Erza!" Mary cheered, " _That'll teach that filthy little maggot as-_ "

"Mom?" Jellal looked to her, eyes wide.

" _You heard nothing,"_ she whispered, glaring at him as she slowly started to smile.

"Uh…" I laughed, "Thank you, Mary, for helping me."

"Of course!" she smiled, "It's literally my job to help others!"

"Dad's going to be surprised when he comes back from his trip…" Jellal mumbled.

"Oops?" Mary chuckled.

"Er… You didn't even tell him?" I raised an eyebrow, "So when he gets back it's just going to be, 'Surprise! We have another kid living with us now!'"

"I talked it over with him, don't worry," she smiled, "He just didn't know the court date was today,"

Nodding looked out the window. I was both nervous and relieved. Although it seemed like I should be relieved since I didn't have to worry about father anymore, I couldn't help but wonder if Father was planning something to get back at me. He seemed to plan other things easily, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was already planning something else.

"Oh, Jellal, have you told Meredy yet?" Mary asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, she spammed my phone until it died." he sighed.

 _Of course Meredy spammed his phone..._

I chuckled, "That doesn't surprise me."

We pulled into Jellal's driveway and got out of the car. I hugged Jellal as soon as I could.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just really happy," I whispered. I wasn't even sure why I had apologized. Maybe it was because I was used to apologizing for _every_ little thing I did. Father wouldn't give as bad of punishments when I apologized; they'd still be bad enough whereas I usually wouldn't be able to leave the house for awhile, but it was better than not being able to leave the house for a long time.

"I know," he hugged me back and whispered, "But didn't I say no apologizing?"

I chuckled and softly responded, "Yeah, you said that."

"Now then," he hugged me once more before letting go, "Let's go inside,"

I nodded and we both went inside. When we got inside, we sat down on the couch - after Jellal plugged in his phone. Jellal went on his computer, and I leaned against him to see what he was doing since I didn't have mine. He went on Fairy Chat - likely so he could talk to Meredy.

He went on the chat room 'Crime Sorciere'.

 **SpaceNerd84 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **SpaceNerd84:** Hey Link. Just so you know, we got custody over Erza. I couldn't tell you because somebody with pink hair decided to spam my phone. Now, who could that be?

 **TimeArkPower:** Um… Hi Space. Nice to know.

 **LinkWoman37:** Oops? Hehe. And YAY!

 **SpaceNerd84:** Haha… Whoops. Forgot Link would only be on here if she was talking to you.

 **TimeArkPower:** Oh, thanks for forgetting about me.

 **SpaceNerd84:** No problem! Oh and Link, don't even think about teasing me…

 _He doesn't need to tell her not to… Wait… Why_ did _he tell her not to?_

 **LinkWoman37:** WHY NOT?! Oh, she's looking over your shoulder isn't she?!

"Wait… What?" I raised an eyebrow, "Jellal?"

 _Are they talking about me again? Oh God… I don't think I even want to_ know _what they talk about most times._

Jellal didn't respond to me. Instead, he just typed a response to Meredy.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Shush.

 **LinkWoman37:** I'll say it! :-)

 **TimeArkPower:** My god. Childish much? xD

 _Uh… Meredy? Jellal?_

 **LinkWoman37:** Y

 **LinkWoman37:** O

 **LinkWoman37:** U

 **TimeArkPower:** Is she really…?

 **LinkWoman37:** L

 **LinkWoman37:** I

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

Jellal spammed the chat.

"Uh…" I mumbled, "Jellal?"

He looked to me, then just shook his head and continued spamming the chat.

" _Jellal?"_ I poked him. Did he _really_ have to spam the chat?

 **SpaceNerd84 has been kicked for spamming.**

"Umm…" I looked at him expectantly, "Okay then…"

"Hehe…" Jellal chuckled, "Oops?"

"What was that about?" I questioned then slightly shook my head, "Never mind, I don't think I want to know..."

"You don't," Jellal agreed, nodding. I stared at him for a moment then laughed. He was so strange.

I nodded, "Alright. Well, I'm going to sleep, so don't move around too much otherwise you'll be uncomfortable."

I pulled my feet onto the couch and rested my head on his shoulder - as usual. For a little while, I just stared off into space – thinking about Jellal of course. He was so _warm_. I didn't even need a blanket when I was cuddling with him. The best part was I felt a lot safer. I didn't worry as much. Soon, I was fast asleep.

 _I squirmed where I was. I couldn't move. Panic set in, and I started to hyperventilate. I was tied to a chair._

 _My eyes widened with fear when I saw Jellal across the room. He was unconscious._

 _"Jellal?" I whimpered._

 _No. No… No! He wasn't allowed to get hurt. Ever._

 _There was laughter behind me, "Oh Erza... You thought you could get away."_

 _"F-Father..." I whispered shakily just before getting shoved. The chair tipped over and fell on the ground. I gasped in pain._

 _"Your_ friend _won't live long." he chuckled. That's when I noticed the blood on the ground. Tears formed in my eye, and I fought back sobs._

Once again, I woke up screaming and crying. My body was trembling uncontrollably, and I was on the verge of hyperventilating. I highly doubted I'd be able to calm myself down anytime soon after having _that_ dream.

"Erza?" Jellal hugged me tightly, "Erza, it's okay. You're safe."

"No... No... No. No. No!" I whimpered. That was the worst dream I'd had. I never thought my dreams could get worse than the memories, but now I knew. My biggest fear was losing Jellal.

" _Erza, c-calm down…"_ Jellal whispered, his voice shaking slightly. He sounded scared, and it made me feel bad. _I_ was scaring him. I _wasn't_ _allowed_ to scare him. I wasn't allowed to worry him. However, I did exactly that.

I shook my head. I couldn't calm myself down; it seemed impossible to do so.

"J-Jellal..." I mumbled shakily as more tears came.

Hugging him, I tried to take deep breaths so I wouldn't pass out from being lightheaded. I had done that before, but it was worse because it was before I had even met Jellal. In which case, I was living with Father, and it didn't go well when Father needed me and I was unconscious.

" _It's okay, Erza,"_ Jellal insisted, " _You're safe. You will be safe._ Okay _?"_

When I got my breathing back to normal, I wiped away my tears. I didn't let go of Jellal though; I refused to let go of him. He was what kept me calm.

"You want to talk about it?" Jellal asked gently. It was nice of him to give me the option of talking about it, but I didn't want him to know what my nightmares were about.

I shook my head and whimpered, "N-No... Just- Just promise me you'll be safe..."

"I promise I'll be safe," he promised. I thought it was strange how he made a promise not even knowing the reason why. He didn't even question why I wanted him to promise me that.

 _If only it were a promise he could keep for sure. All he can do to try to keep that promise is be careful, but careful people still get hurt..._

"Will you be okay, Erza?" Jellal questioned.

I nodded even though I wasn't sure if I'd be okay. Then again, I never knew if I'd be okay. I could be happy and cheerful one moment, and the next moment I'd be panicking about something.

"Sorry..." I whispered shakily. I worried him again. I had heard the fear hinting at his voice. He couldn't hide it from me; I knew fear all too well.

"No." Jellal shook his head, "No. You _are not_ apologizing."

"But... But..." I tried to come up with a valid excuse to apologize. Jellal just shook his head once more.

"No, Erza," Jellal sighed, "You have no reason to apologize. Okay?"

"Okay..." I mumbled, "Okay..."

"Will you be okay, Erza?" Jellal asked once more, slightly pushing me back so he could look me in the eyes. He looked genuinely concerned.

"Yeah... I think so," I murmured, hugging him tightly again, "Just... Just don't leave me. Please."

"I will never leave you, Erza." Jellal promised, "Never."

 _Really? He won't? He means it?_

"What time is it?" I asked quietly, glancing up at Jellal. It was likely I had woken him and Mary up.

"Uhh…" he glanced out the window, "I think it was two in the morning, last I checked… Which was a while ago…"

"Oh..." I mumbled quietly, "So I woke you up... Sor-"

He cut me off, "No apologizing. I don't mind. I may or may not've been awake anyways…"

"Oh... Why were you still awake?" I asked, yawning. I was suddenly tired again.

"I just couldn't sleep," he shrugged, "Nothing really kept me up."

"Oh... You could've woken me up... Then you could've gone upstairs to your bed..." I muttered, "I wouldn't have minded."

 _I don't care as long as he's comfortable and safe._

"No," he shook his head, "I'm actually not all that tired. If I had really tried I could've fallen asleep how I was,"

 _I have a hard time believing that… I annoy everybody. I can't remember a person I haven't annoyed…_

"Oh... Are you sure? If you're uncomfortable with me leaning against you, you can just tell me..." I responded; I still hadn't stopped hugging him. Honestly, I never wanted to let go of him. Jellal made me feel more secure than I had ever been.

"Nope; it's comfortable," he insisted, "Either way, it'd be worth it."

"Okay," I sighed, "If you ever get uncomfortable, let me know..."

 _What does he mean by 'it'd be worth it'?_

 _Whatever... I like cuddling with him._

"Of course," he hugged me one last time before letting go, "We should go back to sleep though, I mean, it is probably three. We could get a few more hours of sleep in."

I nodded, forcing myself not to whimper when he let go of me, "Yeah... I'm still tired."

"Well…" Jellal sat back down on the couch, lifting his feet onto the small table, and closed his eyes.

Smiling, I sat down next to him and cuddled up against his side. I closed my eyes, and soon, I was nearly sleeping again with three simple words on my mind.

' _I love you.'_

I grumbled a couple of curse words when I felt someone shaking my arm. Did I really have to get up?

There was a sigh followed by Mary's voice, "You two need to get up if you want breakfast."

Slightly shaking my head, I wrapped my arms around Jellal. I didn't want to move. I mumbled sleepily, "I'll pass…"

"Erza's lying," Jellal mumbled groggily, "We're hungry…"

"No…" I grumbled, holding Jellal slightly tighter, "I'm tired…"

Mary chuckled, "Okay, you two figure this out, and I'll be in the kitchen waiting."

I nodded sleepily. Moments later, Jellal shifted quite a bit in his seat. Soon after, he was carrying me to the kitchen.

"We figured it out," he yawned, placing me in the seat I normally sat at. He sat next to me, and I rested my head on the table.

"You two are really tired this morning," Mary commented.

"We were up late," Jellal responded, "Erza had a bad dream, and Erza before you apologize - because I know Mom heard you screaming last night - she doesn't mind. She probably fell back asleep soon after, knowing I was with you."

"Oh…" I mumbled sleepily then looked at Mary expectantly.

"Jellal's right," Mary nodded, "He knows me so well."

"You are very predictable," I whispered, letting out a small chuckle. Jellal let out a small laugh as well, and I smiled.

Mary chuckled, hearing me, "I am, aren't I? Anyways, what do you want to eat?"

Jellal spoke before I could, "I'm guessing Erza will suggest we go back to sleep instead, so I'll say pancakes."

"Pancakes it is," Mary agreed, already turning to grab what she needed, "I have bad news for you two…"

I sat up, yawning, "What? I can't go back to sleep?"

"Worse," Mary sighed, serious, "Both of you will have to go to school come Monday,"

Suddenly, I was wide awake.

"Shit," Jellal muttered, "Forgot about that,"

I groaned in annoyance, "Dammit…"

"It _is_ the law…" Mary sighed, "As much as you two don't want to go. Also Erza, I'm putting you in charge of keeping _someone_ out of trouble."

"Right…" Jellal chuckled slightly, " _Right…_ "

I chuckled, "Okay, but for some people, I can't guarantee I'll stop him…"

 _I will_ not _stop him from hitting Simon…_

"Do your best," Mary nodded, turning on the stove, "Jellal, try to _avoid_ fights…"

"Yeah, yeah…" he mumbled, "I will..."

"Jellal… You better mean it," I warned, "I won't drag you away from all those idiots. Especially when half the time they deserve it."

"Fine," he sighed in disappointment.

"Good," I smiled then leaned closer to him and whispered so Mary couldn't hear, "If it's Simon, I don't care as long as you don't get hurt."

He couldn't help but laugh, "Got it, I won't."

"Hey, no laughing!" Mary chuckled, "Now then, how many pancakes do you want?"

"Two," I responded, sitting upright. Now that I wasn't focused on sleeping, I realized I was very hungry.

"Same here," Jellal nodded.

"Got it," Mary started cooking another two pancakes, "I'll make nine total. Two for all of us and then one more each."

I nodded then glanced at Jellal, "Oh yeah... Jellal, thanks for helping me last night."

"No problem," he smiled as Mary set down our plates, "Did you sleep well afterwards?"

"Yeah, did you?" I replied, taking a bite of one of my pancakes.

"Yep," he took a bite of pancake.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I flinched and pulled out my phone. There were so many times I had debated destroying the damn thing, but I was just too damn obedient. To me, if I destroyed it, I was breaking a rule. I couldn't break rules.

My eyes widened and my hands started to shake.

 **New Message from: Father**

 **Open** **Close**

For some reason, I clicked open. After all, it was only a message, right? It couldn't do any harm to read one simple message, right? _Right?_

 **You won't be safe forever.**

 _Never mind…_

Shakily, I stood up and walked to the bathroom, stumbling a bit on the way. I did not want to freak out in front of Jellal again.

"Erza?" I heard Jellal follow me slowly, " _Erza?"_

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Again, I stupidly opened the message before locking myself in the bathroom.

 **One day I'll have you back.**

"Dammit," I whimpered as tears rolled down my cheek. I sat with my back against the bathroom door and my knees tucked against my chest.

"Erza!" Jellal knocked on the door, "What's going on?"

He was worried again… Why?

"Nothing," I responded. He knew that obviously wasn't the case though.

"Erza? Please come out," his voice seemed to be shaking, "You're…"

I was so tempted to leave the bathroom right then. After all, I had been trained to do as I was told. I had to be a perfect kid in order to not get in trouble.

 _This is Jellal… He won't hurt me if I don't listen… He won't ever hurt me._

"No," I responded quietly.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I shakily opened the message. Why did I keep opening the damn messages? Instinct maybe?

 **Do you really think you can hide from me?**

I heard Mary say something from behind the door, but I didn't quite catch it.

"He can't hurt me..." I whispered to myself, tossing my phone to the side and resting my head on my knees, "He can't hurt me..."

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Dammit!" I picked up my phone and opened the message. I _need_ to quit opening his messages.

 **You have to go to school at some point, right?**

Frustrated, I chucked my phone at the ground and watched it break. It broke into quite a few small pieces. I tried to ignore the mess, but I couldn't. I just couldn't. Out of instinct, I crawled over and picked up the broken pieces.

"Erza?" I heard Jellal whisper from the other side of the door. I could hear the fear in his voice as he asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." I whimpered, "I'm perfectly _fine_."

"Liar," Jellal muttered, "If you were fine, you wouldn't be hiding in a bathroom right now, sitting on the floor. You wouldn't have chucked what I think was your phone. Heck, if you were fine, you probably would just be eating pancakes right now…"

As more tears came, I stood up and opened the door. I couldn't stand being alone; I needed someone I could trust. I needed Jellal. I hugged Jellal right away and cried, "Why can't he just leave me the fuck alone?"

Jellal didn't give me an answer, but he hugged me back. I bit my thumb to keep from sobbing too loudly. I guess you could say it was just instinct that kept me from sobbing loudly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, momentarily letting go of my thumb, "I'm hopeless..."

Jellal tensed up, "No you're not. The fact that you're here proves to me you're not. Don't think of yourself that way. You're not hopeless, Erza. You're _perfect."_

 _He's joking, right? There's no way someone could think I'm perfect. I'm_ a freak _. I'm_ broken.

"How could you say I'm perfect?" I mumbled, my voice shaky from crying, "I'm _far_ from perfect..."

"To me, you just are," Jellal hugged me tighter, "You're beautiful. You're strong. You're brave. You're an amazing friend. _You're perfect,_ you've just been around so many _imperfections._ "

 _That's how he views me? He doesn't think I'm annoying, weak, a freak, or ugly? He didn't even insult me at all…_

I sniffled and wiped my tears away before hugging Jellal tighter. I whispered, "You really mean it? All those _nice_ _things_ you said about me?"

"Of course I mean it," he promised, " _You're perfect, Erza. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise,"_

"Jellal..." I murmured, a smile hinting at my face, "Thank you... Those are the nicest words anybody's ever said to me."

 _It's true… He was the first one to actually compliment me._

Jellal didn't say anything back, still hugging me. Again, I didn't want to let go. If I had my choice, I'd have stayed like that forever. Jellal was important to me, and I felt that if I let go of him, I'd lose him.

"Your pancakes are cold," Mary sighed, rolling her eyes at us.

I let go of Jellal, and we both walked back to the kitchen. Rubbing my eyes, I mumbled, "Sorry about that..."

Jellal sighed, but didn't say anything in return.

We didn't do much the rest of the day. We mostly just sat on the couch talking to Meredy and Time on Fairy Chat. Well, Jellal was. I just read over his shoulder and sometimes stole the computer from him. We acted almost as if nothing had happened earlier that morning. At least, I acted that way, but I was used to pretending.

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of chapter ten! The next chapter's gonna be this chapter but in Jellal's point of view. I might post that one sooner than next Friday though since it's basically the same thing. It's already done because my friend wrote it, so I'm going to ask her opinion on when I should post.**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter! Have a nice day/night!**


	12. Chapter 10 and a Half

**Hey! Sorry everyone, I forgot I said I'd post chapter ten in Jellal's point of view sooner than Friday. Haha. Whoops? Anyways, I'll still post chapter eleven on Friday or Saturday since this is literally chapter ten but in Jellal's point of view. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

 **(Jellal's POV)**

I flinched slightly in surprise as Erza hugged me as we got out of the van. She'd been fairly quiet on the way here, likely in shock.

"Sorry, I'm just really happy," she whispered as if it wasn't obvious. She was basically bouncing on her feet, smiling more than I'd ever seen her smile before. She didn't need to _tell_ me she was happy...

"I know," I hugged her back, "But didn't I say no apologizing?"

She apologized _a lot._ It was probably something she had to grow up with, but it annoyed me to no end. Erza never actually did anything wrong. Heck, she just apologized for being happy.

"Yeah, you said that." she chuckled, her voice light.

"Now then," I hugged her once more before letting go of her, considering the look Mom was giving me, "Let's go inside."

We went inside, and I quickly went to plug in my phone on the end table. I _should_ tell Meredy, even if I knew what she'd say. Perhaps she was on Fairy Chat…

I opened up my computer, Erza leaning against me. I opened Fairy Chat and went on the appropriate chatroom. I'd actually created the chatroom once upon a time. Wow, it seemed like it was only yesterday. I chuckled softly.

Sure enough, Meredy's username had a small green dot next to it, proving she was indeed online.

 **SpaceNerd84 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **SpaceNerd84:** Hey Link. Just so you know, we got custody over Erza. I couldn't tell you because somebody with pink hair decided to spam my phone. Now, who could that be?

 **TimeArkPower:** Um… Hi Space. Nice to know.

 _Oh, right… Duh. It'd make sense if Meredy was on Fairy Chat_ talking _to Time. Fail._

 **LinkWoman37:** Oops? Hehe. And YAY!

 **SpaceNerd84:** Haha… Whoops. Forgot Link would only be on here if she was talking to you.

 **TimeArkPower:** Oh, thanks for forgetting about me.

 **SpaceNerd84:** No problem! Oh and Link, don't even think about teasing me…

 _Why. Did. I. Say. That? Fuck. Knowing Meredy…_

 **LinkWoman37:** WHY NOT?! Oh, she's looking over your shoulder isn't she?!

"Wait… What?" Erza raised an eyebrow, looking to me, "Jellal?"

I ignored her. She _really_ didn't need to know what Meredy was talking about. I quickly typed a reply.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Shush.

 **LinkWoman37:** I'll say it! :-)

 **TimeArkPower:** My god. Childish much? xD

 **LinkWoman37:** Y

 **LinkWoman37:** O

 **LinkWoman37:** U

 **TimeArkPower:** Is she really…?

 **LinkWoman37:** L

 **LinkWoman37:** I

 _Fuck._

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Nope.

I spammed the chat. She could not see this. Nope.

"Uh…" Erza mumbled, "Jellal?"

I looked to her but didn't trust myself to say anything. I'd say something weird. I shook my head. Erza poked me, trying to get me to answer, but I ignored her once more.

 **SpaceNerd84 has been kicked for spamming.**

"Um…" Erza looked to me, confused, "Okay then…"

"Hehe…" I tried to chuckle, "Oops?"

 _Didn't know they had that… Well, good._

"What was that about?" Erza asked before she decided against it, "Nevermind, I don't think I want to know..."

"You don't," I agreed. _Thank you for being oblivious, Erza… Thank you._

She nodded, "Alright. Well, I'm going to sleep, so don't move around too much otherwise you'll be uncomfortable."

I nodded as she pulled herself onto the couch more and leaned her head against me. It was slightly uncomfortable, but she didn't need to know that. She'd just feel bad. She didn't need to worry about that.

I waited until she had begun snoring softly before I dared go back on the chat room. That could be disastrous.

 **SpaceNerd84 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM.**

 **LinkWoman37:** YOU LIKE ERZA!

I chucked softly, happy that Erza was asleep on my shoulder and not looking at my screen. Hopefully she wasn't _faking_ being asleep, or this just got really, really, awkward.

 **SpaceNerd84:** You failed. Erza fell asleep. Haha.

 **LinkWoman37:** Dammit! Well, you didn't deny it…

 _Because you're right…_

 **SpaceNerd84:** You wouldn't believe me if I tried, anyways.

 **LinkWoman37:** True. Hey guess what!

 **SpaceNerd84:** … what?

 **LinkWoman37:** You know how your mom got custody of Erza? Doesn't that make you guys like _siblings?_

"Fuck you, Meredy," I whispered, " _Fuck you_ ,"

 **SpaceNerd84:** Ugh. Don't remind me… I don't think of her as a sister anyways.

 **LinkWoman37:** You think of her as a _girlfriend…_

 **SpaceNerd84:** Don't make me leave the chat.

 **LinkWoman37:** Fine, fine.

 **SpaceNerd84:** Where'd Time go?

 **LinkWoman37:** She left. Something about us being weird.

 **SpaceNerd84:** That's no surprise.

We chatted for while longer about random stuff before I realized I should really get some sleep. It was around one after all. Oops.

I awkwardly moved my computer off my lap, trying not to move Erza. Eventually I lifted my feet onto the table and closed my eyes. It wasn't very comfortable, but I didn't want to risk waking Erza.

I woke to screaming. Sitting up right away, I saw Erza shaking on the couch. Was she having a seizure? No, a bad dream. A _really_ bad dream.

"Erza?" I wrapped her in a hug, "Erza, it's okay. You're safe."

She repeated 'no.' a few times, trembling. What had happened in her god awful dream?

" _Erza, c-calm down…"_ I whispered, unable to stop my voice from shaking. She was _scaring_ me. Not only was she panicking, but she could've hurt herself had she hit her head on the table or something.

She shook her head a few times. She mumbled something I didn't quite catch, hugging me. We stood there for a while as she tried to calm herself down, taking deep breaths.

I heard Mom move upstairs, and soon enough she was peeking down the stairs. Apparently she decided to leave Erza to me because she soon went back up to her room.

" _It's okay, Erza,"_ I said after a while, " _You're safe. You will be safe._ Okay _?"_

She didn't say anything, only waiting a bit longer before wiping away tears with one of her hands. She still hugged me with her other.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked gently. I already knew the answer, but it was worth a shot.

She shook her head, "N-No... Just- Just promise me you'll be safe..."

"I promise I'll be safe," I promised, confused. Why would she ask me that?

 _What happened?_

"Will you be okay, Erza?" I asked, not sure what to say. She nodded once more, although it looked forced.

"Sorry..." she whispered.

"No," I shook my head, refusing to believe what I heard. Why would she say that?

"No. You _are not_ apologizing." I finished.

"But... But..." I shook my head once more as she tried to argue.

"No, Erza," I sighed, upset, "You have no reason to apologize. Okay?"

"Okay..." she mumbled once more, unconvincingly, "Okay..."

"Will you be okay, Erza?" I asked again, not sure I believed her.

"Yeah... I think so," she hugged me tighter as her shaking seemed to finally come to a stop, "Just... Just don't leave me. Please."

"I will never leave you, Erza." I promised, "Never."

 _That's the last thing I would do._

"What time is it?" she looked up to me.

"Uh…" I debated what time it probably was before lying, "I think it was two in the morning, last I checked… Which was a while ago…"

"Oh..." she mumbled, "So I woke you up... Sor-"

I cut her off, "No apologizing. I don't mind. I may or may not've been awake anyways…"

"Oh... Why were you still awake?" she yawned, tired once more.

"I just couldn't sleep," I lied again, "Nothing really kept me up."

 _She doesn't need to know that I_ did _fall asleep. She doesn't need to feel bad. I feel bad lying though..._

"Oh... You could've woken me up... Then you could've gone upstairs to your bed..." she muttered, clearly upset, "I wouldn't have minded."

"No," I shook my head, lying once more, "I'm actually not all that tired. If I had really tried I could've fallen asleep how I was,"

"Oh... Are you sure? If you're uncomfortable with me leaning against you, you can just tell me..." she seemed to hug me tighter.

"Nope; it's comfortable," I lied, again. It was anything but.

"Either way, it'd be worth it." I said honestly.

 _She doesn't need to worry about others. She's had enough shit in her life; she doesn't need to worry about me._

"Okay," she sighed, giving up, "If you ever get uncomfortable, let me know..."

"Of course," I hugged her once more before finally forcing us to let go, "We should go back to sleep though, I mean, it is probably three. We could get a few more hours of sleep in."

She agreed, and we laid back down, hoping to get at least a little more sleep in. I sat the same way as before, knowing it'd be more comfortable for Erza.

I woke up to Erza swearing softly.

My mom sighed, "You two need to get up if you want breakfast."

Erza wrapped herself around me, shaking her head as she did so, "I'll pass…"

"Erza's lying," I mumbled, my stomach growling softly, "We're hungry…"

"No…" Erza complained, "I'm tired…"

Mom chuckled, "Okay, you two figure this out, and I'll be in the kitchen waiting."

Erza only nodded as I slowly moved myself so I could pick her up. I carried her over to the kitchen.

 _She's oddly_ light...

"We figured it out," I yawned as I placed Erza down. I sat down next to her as she seemed to fall asleep on the counter.

"You two are really tired this morning," Mom noted, looking to us curiously.

"We were up late," I shrugged, "Erza had a bad dream, and Erza before you apologize - because I know Mom heard you screaming last night - she doesn't mind. She probably fell back asleep soon after, knowing I was with you."

"Oh…" Erza mumbled, looking up to Mom.

"Jellal's right," Mom nodded, half-chuckling, "He knows me so well."

"You are very predictable," Erza chuckled softly. I couldn't help but laugh too.

Mom chuckled, hearing her, "I am, aren't I? Anyways, what do you want to eat?"

I quickly spoke, "I'm guessing Erza will suggest we go back to sleep instead, so I'll say pancakes."

"Pancakes it is," Mom agreed, already turning to grab what she needed, "I have bad news for you two…"

Erza sat up, "What? I can't go back to sleep?"

"Worse," Mom sighed, suddenly dead serious, "Both of you will have to go to school come Monday,"

"Shit," I muttered, "Forgot about that,"

 _Just. Fucking. Great. I have to go back to that god awful place? Erza has to go back?_

Erza groaned in annoyance, "Dammit…"

"It _is_ the law…" Mom sighed, shaking her head at us, "As much as you two don't want to go. Also, Erza, I'm putting you in charge of keeping _someone_ out of trouble."

"Right…" I chuckled slightly, " _Right…_ "

 _This is going to fucking suck, isn't it? If_ I _don't want to deal with those fucking idiots… Poor Erza._

Erza chuckled, but I didn't hear much humor in her voice "Okay, but for some people, I can't guarantee I'll stop him…"

 _Simon? Please let it be that asshole. Please._

"Do your best," Mom nodded, turning on the stove, "Jellal, try to _avoid_ fights…"

"Yeah, yeah…" I mumbled subconsciously as my fist clenched, "I will..."

"Jellal… You better mean it," Erza looked to me, "I won't drag you away from all those idiots. Especially when half the time they deserve it."

"Fine," I sighed, unable to keep all of the disappointment out of my voice. For Erza's sake, I would do my best to hold off. I could do that, right?

"Good," Erza smiled before leaning closer to me, "If it's Simon, I don't care as long as you don't get hurt."

 _So it was Simon that she was talking about… Of course she'd let me beat him up. Duh._

I laughed quietly, "Got it, I won't."

"Hey, no laughing!" Mom chuckled, mock glaring at me, "Now then, how many pancakes do you want?"

"Two," Erza sat upright once more, suddenly seeming more awake.

"Same here," I nodded. Knowing Mom that meant she'd make like twenty or something.

"Got it," Mom started cooking another two pancakes, "I'll make nine total. Two for all of us and then one more each."

Erza nodded as she looked back to me, "Oh yeah... Jellal, thanks for helping me last night."

"No problem," Erza smiled in the adorable way she always did, "Did you sleep well afterwards?"

"Yeah, did you?" she asked as she started eating the pancakes Mom set down in front of us.

"Yep," I started eating as well.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

 _God fucking dammit! Why does she_ still _have her phone on her? She should've got rid of it._

I looked to see Erza click a button, and I debated just taking the phone from her. Before I could, she started shaking, tears forming as she quickly went to the bathroom. I got up to follow her, my Mom right behind me as I heard her lock the door.

"Erza?" I stopped at the door, " _Erza?"_

 _She could be hurting herself. What was going on? Why did she lock herself in there?_

I heard the phone go off once more, followed by Erza muttering something I didn't quite catch.

"Erza!" I knocked on the door, trying to keep fear out of my voice, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," she lied quietly. I could hear very quiet sobs.

"Erza? Please come out," my voice shook as I spoke, "You're…"

… _scaring me._ I finished in my head. What if she hurt herself? What if she refused to come out?

"No," she quietly argued. I was almost relieved, knowing she didn't instinctively agree.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as the beeping started once more. Turning around, Mom looked to me sadly. She shook her head, pulling me back from the door.

"Let her calm down, Jellal," she mumbled, "You don't want to scare her, even if your intentions are pure,"

"But..." I started to argue before trailing off. It was pointless to argue _about_ Erza when Erza was right behind the door.

The beeping started again, and I silently pleaded Erza to just take the battery out and come out of the damn room. It wasn't long before I heard something hit the wall, crashing to the ground.

 _Was that her phone or..._

"Erza?" I whispered, trying - and failing - to keep fear out of my voice, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." she lied again, trying to convince herself, "I'm perfectly _fine_."

"Liar," I muttered, unable to stop myself, "If you were fine you wouldn't be hiding in a bathroom right now, sitting on the floor. You wouldn't have chucked what I think was your phone. Heck, if you were fine, you probably would just be eating pancakes right now…"

 _If you were fine, you probably wouldn't even be at my house… You'd be_ happy _._

I flinched in surprise as the door opened and Erza came out, almost falling into my arms as she hugged me, "Why can't he just leave me the fuck alone?"

I didn't have an answer for her; I could only hug her. I felt her bite her thumb, likely to stop her sobs. I would've told her off, but I didn't trust myself to speak. I'd say something stupid.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice shaking as she almost began to cry again, "I'm hopeless..."

I couldn't help but to tense up, slightly angry. I wasn't angry at Erza but angry none the less. I suppose that's why I got into so many fights. Anger issues. It was a problem but not a big one.

 _She shouldn't think like that. That's just…_ wrong _. She should think about how amazing she is. How she got through all of this crap and is still_ alive _. I could never do that._

I tried to keep my voice neutral, knowing I could end up crying at any moment, "No you're not. The fact that you're here proves to me you're not. Don't think of yourself that way. You're not hopeless, Erza. You're _perfect."_

"How could you say I'm perfect?" she mumbled, not believing me, "I'm _far_ from perfect..."

"To me, you just are," I hugged her tighter, "You're beautiful. You're strong. You're brave. You're an amazing friend. _You're perfect,_ you've just been around so many _imperfections._ "

Erza wiped away her tears before whispering once more "You really mean it? All those _nice_ things you said about me?"

"Of course I mean it," I promised, now trying to keep _myself_ from crying, " _You're perfect, Erza. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise,"_

"Jellal..." Erza mumbled in my ear, "Thank you... Those are the nicest words anybody's ever said to me."

 _It shouldn't have to be like that. You should've heard much more loving words than that..._

"Your pancakes are cold," Mom sighed, causing us both to flinch. I looked up to see her smiling.

We finally let go of each other, heading into the kitchen as Erza apologized, "Sorry about that..."

I could only sigh, not trusting myself to speak. If I did… Well, that could end up awkward as I'd most likely prove Meredy right. That was the last thing I wanted.

Maybe one day I'd be able to tell her. Maybe one day she'd say it back to me. Maybe one day I would get over this irrational fear of saying three fucking words. Then again, knowing me, I would likely die before I did. God fucking dammit. Why was this so hard? If only it was a simple thing.

Today would not be that day. Erza has dealt with so much. She didn't need to worry about what I thought of her of all things. I could just stay quiet. It'd be better if I never said it. That is, if Meredy didn't fuck that up.

Yes, maybe one day I could say, " _I love you, Erza."_

Today just wasn't that day.

 **Aww... Poor Jellal. Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

 **Have a nice day/night!**


	13. Chapter 11

**Hello! I'm back with another chapter! Yay! Well, happy reading!**

Monday morning came too quickly. Since Jellal had slept in his bed Sunday night, I got ready for school as soon as I woke up at 4:30am. Mary had left early for some appointments again and Joe was still away on business. I nervously paced around the living room until 6:00 am - when Mary claimed I had to wake Jellal up.

"Jellal," I poked his arm, "Time to wake up…"

"No," he shook his head, burying himself under his blankets, "You're a liar,"

 _Lazy..._

I chuckled and pulled the blankets off him, "If I have to go to school, so do you. Come on, sleepyhead."

He lazily tried to take the blankets back, so I pulled them off his bed, shaking my head, "Nope."

"Yep," he curled into a ball, hiding his face under his arm to block the light from the window.

Sighing, I sat down by him and started poking his arm again, "We need to go if we don't want to miss the bus. Plus, Meredy is expecting us to be at school today."

"Jellal… You know your mom will be upset if you skip school, " I added, "I don't want to go either, but I most certainly don't want to go without you."

Jellal paused for a moment thinking, "Fine. I'll go. Just give me a moment to get ready…"

I smiled and stood up, walking out of his room, "Good, I'll be downstairs waiting for you."

When I got downstairs, I went to the kitchen and started to make some breakfast - it was likely that Jellal would be hungry afterall. I just simply made scrambled eggs and toast, but it was something.

"What smells so good?" Jellal asked, coming down the stairs.

"That would be breakfast," I smiled, turning to greet him, "Good morning."

His hair was still messy - he likely only put on clothes for school. I stifled a laugh; he still looked adorable. My smile widened as he walked over to the counter, and I brought his food to him before sitting next to him to eat my food.

"Good morning," he smiled, "You didn't have to make food, but I won't complain. This smells delicious,"

I chuckled, "I didn't like waiting while doing nothing. I might as well make myself useful when I wake up early, right?"

"Good plan," he agreed, biting into his eggs. Apparently they were good, considering he immediately took another bite.

I watched him eat for a bit then quickly realized how awkward that would be if he looked up. Without giving myself a chance to argue against that, I quickly started eating, occasionally glancing at Jellal.

Jellal was done before me and started to clean up not only his plate, but the pan and ingredients I used.

"I-I can clean up the mess..." I mumbled as I finished eating.

"Nope," Jellal laughed, "You cooked the meal. I want to do _something_ to help."

"Okay..." I whispered, bringing my dirty dishes to the sink.

Jellal quickly finished picking up the mess I'd made. At least there wasn't too much…

"We better get going," Jellal glanced at his phone to check the time, "We don't want to miss the bus and be late…"

I nodded, and we put on our shoes and headed outside to wait for the bus. Soon after we got outside, the bus came. As expected, Meredy saved us a seat on the bus. Again, we squished together on the seat.

Meredy sat by the window, I sat next to her - in the middle - and Jellal sat on the edge.

Jellal didn't have to be told I was nervous; he could tell. When we were almost to the school, I realized I had been holding Jellal's hand tightly out of nervousness. As soon as I realized it, I let go of his hand, but as I pulled my hand away, he pulled it back.

I opened my mouth to tell him he didn't have to hold my hand, but I soon decided against it.

"I will not say anything…" Meredy mumbled, causing Jellal to glare at her. I raised an eyebrow then shook my head. It was probably best not to know what those two talked about.

Yawning, I rested my head on Jellal's shoulder; I refused to close my eyes though. If I closed my eyes, I knew I'd fall asleep.

"Erza," Jellal poked me with his free hand, "We're here…"

"Nope," I shook my head, "Lies."

Jellal sighed and stood up. I fell off his shoulder, but he quickly caught me, still holding onto my hand. I heard Meredy snicker from behind me.

"Yes, we're here," Jellal smiled, "As much as I wish we weren't."

"But… But... " I mumbled, "Fine…"

I stood up and followed Jellal off the bus with Meredy right behind us. It wasn't until I heard Meredy start laughing again when I realized I was _still_ holding Jellal's hand. We awkwardly let go of each other's hands.

"Oh look," someone behind us laughed, " _The slut's back,"_

I slightly flinched but continued walking.

 _Just ignore it… Just ignore it… If I react, so will Jellal. I_ have _to ignore it._

Jellal sighed and kept walking. He seemed tense; his fist clenched. Luckily he didn't do anything. Would've he had I not been here?

We went to our lockers then went straight to Science. It was best to be in a classroom rather than in the halls where a fight could start at any moment. I paused when I walked into Science. Of course Simon would be there, and of course he'd be at the table I was used to sitting at. The table with the least amount of people.

"God fucking dammit," Jellal 'mumbled' loudly.

"L-Let's just find a different place to sit…" I whispered shakily.

"Oh you two _are_ back," Simon chuckled, " It's _great_ to see you both."

"Fuck off," Jellal glared at him.

"J-Jellal, let's go sit somewhere else…" I mumbled again.

"Yeah Jellal, listen to the slut," Simon smirked.

"She's not a fucking slut," Jellal flicked him off before heading to a table across the room. I quickly followed Jellal and sat at the table he went to. I awkwardly looked down and began to pick at my nails.

"It's okay Erza," Jellal took my hand once more, "He'd have to be fucking stupid to do anything here,"

 _Don't worry about me... I'll be_ perfectly fine _. Just like I've always been... Just fine._

"Yeah…" I nodded, "You're right…"

It wasn't long before Mineva came into the classroom. She quickly grabbed some papers from her desk and came over to us.

"Glad to see you again, Erza," Minerva smiled, "Same to you Jellal, if you don't start another fight…"

Jellal chuckled slightly.

"Don't worry, I'll keep him out of fights," I smiled.

 _It's not his job to protect me..._

"Good," Minerva smiled once more, "Anyways, as you've been gone for two and a half months, you've missed quite a bit. I have all the powerpoints online. I could give you a stack of papers to complete but I think if you just complete a paper for both of the units we covered you should be fine. Here's just a basic guideline of things you need to cover…"

She set a paper down in front of me, which had a list of all the things we covered over the two units - Meteorology and Astrology.

"Can I have Jellal help me? He said he's good at this stuff," I glanced at Jellal. Hopefully he'd be willing to help me…

"Sure," Minerva agreed, "Just don't let him _do_ all of it,"

"Don't worry… I won't…" Jellal chuckled, smiling as he looked to me.

Minerva left as more students entered the room. The students that normally sat at the table Jellal and I were at sat somewhere else. I shifted uncomfortably as a couple of students sat by us.

One of them snickered, " _She's_ back."

"She doesn't smell like beer anymore," the other commented.

"Yeah, I heard she went to rehab," someone from the table in front of us leaned over and added.

 _They really stretched the rumors..._

I raised an eyebrow at them. Were they really talking about me while I was sitting next to them?

Jellal tensed up from beside me, "Really? Because I heard that she and the person next to her both have ears, and one has a _really_ short temper…"

"Jellal, don't worry about it. I don't care," I muttered. I was lying. I did care. Why did they just assume that I was an alcoholic? They didn't even bother _trying_ to find out what the truth was.

"Liar," Jellal mumbled, glancing towards me.

The person at the table in front of us snickered, "I guess Erza still likes lying about things..."

 _They'll never believe a word I say... They never did._

I frowned but quickly forced a smile, hoping Jellal didn't notice. I mumbled, "I'm not lying."

Jellal glared at them ignoring what I had said, "Do you guys really _want_ to get punched in the face?"

"Jellal... No. You will _not_ start any fights," I retorted, not hearing what the other people said.

"They deserve it…" he argued, "I mean, they are being _ignorant fucking assholes_."

I raised an eyebrow, "Okay... That's true, but you still aren't allowed to start any fights. Violence doesn't help anything."

"Just listen to the slut..." I heard one of them whisper, causing me to flinch.

 _I'm not a slut. I never asked for it; it just... Happened._

"Sorry, I don't think I can do that," Jellal responded innocently, "I'm surrounded by _a bunch of fucking assholes who deserve to get punched in the face_ , but no sluts."

"J-Just ignore them..." I muttered quietly, "I honestly don't mind. After all, it's just words."

"I don't care if ' _it's just words'_ ," Jellal argued, "It's still making life harder for you, and you really don't need that. I saw you flinch, and you can't pretend you didn't stutter, Erza. It's obviously affecting you."

I opened my mouth to respond but decided against it. He was right, and I knew it. I couldn't deny it.

"Class is going to start soon," I whispered.

Sure enough, Minerva came into the room just after I spoke. She took one glance at us and decided that something needed to change.

"Yeah, no," Minerva sighed, "The group in the back, split up. Erza and Jellal, you two can stay there, the rest of you scram. You shouldn't be at the same table."

Grumbling, they started to leave as Minerva continued, "I'd also like to welcome _Erza_ back. Her name is _Erza, got it?_ If I hear anything else you will fail my class. No questions asked. That goes for anybody. No name calling in my class. _Got it?_ "

 _Okay then... Uh..._

Class was fairly boring because we took notes almost the whole time. My other classes weren't much better. Especially because at the beginning of class each time, I had to convince Jellal not to punch someone.

Lunch was the worst though. Before Jellal came to the school, I had hid in the bathroom or the library during lunch. After Jellal came, he made me eat lunch with him. We would sit at whatever opentable there was. People only came to our table to bully us.

"Occupied," Jellal sighed as a group of three sat down across from us.

"Oh, really?" one looked at him 'innocently', "These seats look pretty open to me…"

"They are, if you're going to stay quiet, sit there, and _eat_." Jellal agreed, "But you're not going to do that, are you?"

"I think the slut's been wearing off on him," one 'whispered'.

 _Really? Do they really have to act as if I'm_ not _sitting right in front of them? Maybe things would be better if I were dead._

My fist clenched as I started to pick at my food. I couldn't react; if I did, Jellal would likely hit one of them. Jellal glanced over to me but didn't say anything.

"You guys are assholes," Jellal sighed, "You and almost everyone else here. I can't believe it sometimes…"

"We aren't assholes," one of them stated. Did they realize how stupid they sounded? They continued talking too, "You just think that because we're not weird like you."

"That just proves my point," Jellal mumbled, "You can't be bothered to be considerate of other people's situations, so you just label them as 'weird' and laugh at them. That wouldn't even be too bad, but you go out of your way to make sure they know you hate them. You make sure that they are outcasted. You make their situation worse because who cares? They're just the 'weird' ones anyways. Am I wrong?"

They seemed to be at a loss for words, and I stifled a laugh. For once, they actually shut up. Two of them started to leave only to stop so they could pull their other friend with.

One of them muttered, "Freaks..."

 _This wouldn't have happened if I were gone..._

I slightly shook my head and continued to eat my food. Jellal stayed silent as he finished eating his slice of pizza. He seemed to be lost in thought, staring at his tray.

"Jellal," I poked his shoulder, "Lunch is almost over..."

He flinched, dropping his fork onto his tray, "Oh. Already?"

"Yeah," I forced a smile, "We can go home soon! Just one more class!"

Jellal started to smile, but stopped abruptly, "Which would be great, but we don't have the same class next block. I have Psychology and you have Economics, right?"

I frowned, "Y-Yeah... But it's only one class, right? We'll see each other right after that. Plus, the bullying couldn't possibly get too bad in the span of one class."

Sighing, I added, "Please try to stay out of fights. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Fine, I won't get into any fights." Jellal looked down at his hands, "I can't promise that I won't get into _arguments_ , but I won't hit anyone. Okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, "Arguments are fine with me; just not hitting anyone. Unless they hit you first then I don't care if you hit them. They deserve it then."

Jellal nodded as we were dismissed to our next class. He let out a sigh.

"My mom's going to be picking us up after school. See you then!"

"Alright," I mumbled, "See you then!"

My last class was hell. 'It couldn't possibly get too bad in the span of one class,' was an understatement. It didn't help that Simon was in that class as well, and he sat next to me. When we had to work with the people next to us on one of the worksheets we got, I nearly had a panic attack. I did fake being sick though, and I went to the nurse's office.

After school, I practically ran to my locker, grabbed my stuff, and ran outside to wait for Jellal. He exited the building soon after I did, and we walked to Mary's van.

"How did it go?" Jellal asked as he entered the van.

"It was okay," I mumbled quietly, "I guess it could've gone better."

"Well," Mary interjected as she started leaving the parking lot, "If it makes you feel any better, Christmas break is in about a month, and before that there's Thanksgiving coming up, so you'll get a day or two off then…"

"I suppose… I don't really understand those breaks though. Why do we even have them? I love them, but there should be a reason," I muttered.

"Hm?" Mary glanced to me, "You didn't celebrate the holidays, did you? We get those breaks because everyone is busy celebrating something or another. Thanksgiving is typically when people eat as a family and give thanks to the little things in life. Christmas is when as a family you give gifts to others. There's more than just those two, but that's basically the jist of it."

 _Right... Other families do stuff together..._

"October thirty-first must be very confusing," Jellal mumbled.

"Oh… And yeah, October thirty-first is very confusing. Father usually yelled at the door a lot," I shrugged, "I always thought of holidays as a time where people usually acted strange."

"Well yeah, I suppose there are multiple ways to think of it. Yes people do act strange, but normally in a good way." Mary elaborated, "You could also think of it like this: On Halloween, - October 31st - you get a lot of free candy, on Thanksgiving you get a lot of free food, and on Christmas you get a lot of free gifts. The holidays are supposed to be about spending time with your family, but that might be an easier way to think of it."

"Oh… That's really weird," I stated.

"True," Mary laughed, "Most people don't really think much of it, growing up with the holidays, but it is weird."

"Yeah… On most holidays, father would go to his friends house and come home really drunk," I shrugged, "That's all that happened on holidays. Nothing different."

"Well, you'll be spending the holidays with us," Jellal announced happily, "Although most of our relatives live really far away, so we won't be going anywhere… Right, Mom?"

"Yeah, sadly that seems to be the case," she sighed, "But we'll still have a feast on Thanksgiving and give out gifts for Christmas, just amongst ourselves."

I nodded, "Okay."

Deciding to change the topic, I added, "What's for dinner?"

"I'm not sure yet," Mary admitted, pulling into the driveway, "I can't think of anything good off the top of my head…"

"Oh okay then," I smiled, "So Jellal… How was your last class?"

"Boring and annoying," he sighed, "People were quiet at least. In that class, you talk you sit in the hall for the rest of class. It's awesome,"

 _Lucky him... I had to listen to more rumors during the half I was there._

"Interesting…" I nodded, "I skipped half my class… Uh… So yeah…"

"Guys, we're here…" Mary chuckled, getting out of the van.

I quickly got out of the van and waited for Jellal before going inside the house. We went up to Jellal's room to do our homework while waiting for food. I sat at Jellal's desk and started working on my paper for Science. That's all I had. Well… I wasn't sure if I had anything for Economics.

"Do we _have_ to go to school again, tomorrow," Jellal sighed, setting down his pencil.

"I'd prefer not to," I grumbled, "Or how about we both skip our last classes tomorrow?"

"I think my mom would kill us," he chuckled.

"Yeah…" I smiled, "She probably would."

Jellal's phone made a weird sound in place of beeping and he quickly checked it. He smiled slightly, quickly typing a reply.

"What do you say to Meredy coming over?" he asked, "It'd be an excuse to procrastinate..."

"Sure, she can come over," I nodded, "I really don't feel like doing homework right now anyways…"

Jellal smiled, getting up to call down the stairs to Mary, "Can Meredy come over?"

I heard what sounded to be a yes, and it wasn't long before Jellal came back into the room, typing a reply to Meredy.

"She'll be here soon," he smiled, sitting down.

"Okay," I nodded.

Soon, I was lost in thought. It was bad to leave me alone with my mind for too long though. Bad thoughts seemed to enter my mind after a little bit. They were the thoughts that had come to me during my darkest moments.

These thoughts seemed to invade my mind spontaneously now. Sometimes it even scared me how dark my thoughts could get.

Once in awhile, the thoughts made me smile because I knew I'd be happy if I followed through. Other times, I cringed. I would never be able to do what was on my mind. That didn't stop me from thinking about it though. Oh , and I _always_ thought about it. At least once a day.

I whispered hesitantly, "Jellal... Have you ever wished you were dead?"

I awkwardly looked down. For some reason, death was on my mind all day. Maybe... Maybe if I left, Jellal wouldn't be bullied as much and wouldn't get into as many fights... As I thought many times, Jellal would be better off without me.

"Hm?" Jellal looked to me, processing what I'd said. He stayed silent for a while.

"Y-Yes and no," he mumbled, looking away, "I'd thought about it before, but I'd never be able to do it. That was a long time ago anyways… Now, there's too many people I'd leave behind."

He turned to me, "I can guess why you might ask, and let me say right now that I'd be _very upset with you_ , okay? I'd be upset, sad, lonely, and I wouldn't forgive you. You leaving is just not an option."

"But... I whispered, but I couldn't find anymore words to say. I stared at him in silence for a moment before quietly mumbling, "I make things worse..."

"Wh-What? You make things better," he countered, "Name one time you've made things _worse_."

"You and Meredy got in trouble when I ran away from home the first time..." I muttered.

"One: Meredy didn't end up in trouble. She lied and got away with it. Two: You would've been way worse off otherwise. Not to mention that both me and my mom really like having you here. Try again."

"You get picked on because you're friends with me," I responded, frowning.

He frowned, "I probably would've got picked on anyways. Not to mention with all the fights I start it's not like I'd have any other friends. Hell, Meredy and I wouldn't hang out if it wasn't for you, I bet."

I sighed, "Meredy should be here any minute now... L-Lets just- just forget about this conversation..."

I couldn't think of anyway I had made things worse. When I did think of one, I realized that Jellal would have an argument against it.

"See?" Jellal whispered softly, "You haven't done _anything_ bad. You haven't made _any_ situation worse."

"Okay... So I couldn't think of another situation I made worse. But... But..." Tears came to my eye, and I quickly wiped them away, "But... I-I don't know anymore."

"You don't have to know," Jellal hugged me, "You just have to trust that others do."

"Jellal..." I whispered, hugging him, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have brought this up..."

He shook his head slightly, "It's better you bring it up then to never say a word, the thought growing more and more each day. No, I'd much rather have you say something. Also, what did I say about apologizing?"

"S-Sor-" I started but cut myself off, shaking my head, "Thank you Jellal..."

Jellal started to respond but was cut off before he could make out a single word.

"Jellal!" Meredy glared at him from the doorway, obviously trying not to smile, "Did you make Erza cry?"

I awkwardly let go of Jellal and sat in his desk chair; I pulled my legs up onto the chair and wrapped my arms around my knees.

"Hi Meredy," I forced a smile.

Jellal turned to her, and she laughed at his expression, waving to me.

"I'll have you know, _I did not_ make her cry," he crossed his arms, sitting down on his bed.

"Wait…" she turned to me, raising an eyebrow, "Then why do you look like you've been crying? Are you hurt? Did something happen? You'll be okay, right? _Right?_ I don't need to have Jellal beat someone up or something?"

"I'm fine... I j-just got a bit emotional over absolutely nothing," I lied easily, faking another smile, "I'm okay now."

Meredy chuckled, entering the room fully and closing the door behind her. She leaned against the wall.

"What, is it your time of the month or something?" she chuckled as Jellal pretended he was suddenly asleep.

"M-Meredy, w-what the hell? N-No..." I replied awkwardly looking down at my feet.

Meredy just laughed once more, "Sorry, just trying to make a joke and lighten the mood a little."

"-and failed miserably," Jellal chuckled.

"Yeah... You just made that really weird," I muttered.

"Oops?" she shrugged, "Anyways, what've you guys been up to? Anything fun?"

"I wouldn't consider homework fun..." I mumbled.

"Well that's boring," Meredy agreed, "What do you want to do?"

"Whatever you two want to do," I smiled.

"We could go to the park!" Meredy smiled brightly.

I raise an eyebrow, "You sound _really_ excited for just going to the park."

"Well... I may or may not have already told someone I'd meet her there... She's going to be our new friend!" Meredy exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Jellal raised an eyebrow, "O-Okay then…"

"Uh… Who is it?" I mumbled.

"You'll see!" Meredy smiled happily, already heading to the door.

"Um…" Jellal stood up, "You aren't bringing us to some creepy person, right…?"

"I don't think she's creepy," Meredy shrugged, "Now come on!"

"Okay then…" I mumbled, standing up and following her out of the room. Jellal quickly got up as well. We headed downstairs, Jellal tossing one of my sweatshirts at me. I sighed, putting it on.

"We're going to the park!" Jellal called out to Mary as we left the house. Suddenly I was glad for the sweatshirt as I stepped out into the cold November air. The park was a little over a mile away, so we had a bit to go.

Meredy was teasing Jellal about something on the way there; I wasn't quite sure what though. I was still fairly cold even with my sweatshirt, so I leaned against Jellal, and he wrapped his arm around me. He was very warm. Especially compared to someone like me who didn't have much body fat because I would barely eat anything when living with my father.

"Oh look, it's _them,"_ a voice sneered from behind us.

 **CLIFFHANGER! Haha!**

 **I'm evil...**

 **Well, please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Have a nice day/night!**


	14. Chapter 12

**I'm back! Hello everyone! Before the chapter, I'd like to thank everyone who followed, favorited or reviewed. I always get excited when I open my email to see that someone likes my story!**

 **Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Oh look, it's _them,"_ a voice sneered from behind us.

I flinched, vaguely recognizing the voice.

 _Just ignore it… Just fucking ignore it…_

Jellal stopped walking though. He turned around and glared at the people behind us. Since I was right next to Jellal, I was forced to stop and turn around as well. I heard Meredy sigh, as she also turned around. Three kids I faintly recognized from school stood there, chuckling.

"I'm surprised you guys are even here," one raised an eyebrow, "I thought you'd all be busy dying of alcohol poisoning or something."

"I am not an alcoholic…" I muttered, annoyed by everyone seeming to think that.

"Then why would you always go to school smelling like beer?" they argued, smiling smugly.

Apparently they really wanted to see me cry - I was already on the verge of tears, and they hadn't even said much. Jellal held me close to him, and it seemed to comfort me a bit. If it weren't for Jellal, I'd probably be full out crying.

"That's… That's because…" I mumbled, tears forming in my eyes. Why did they always have to bring it up? Couldn't they just leave it alone?

"Guys, just because she smells like alcohol, it doesn't been she _drank_ it," Jellal argued for me, standing slightly in front of me, "What if someone in her family was an alcoholic?"

"Do you assume that because she _told_ you? You should know she's a liar," one of them smirked, causing the others to chuckle.

I let out a small whimper and quickly bit my lip. I was _not_ about to break down in front of _them_. Nope. Nope. _Nope_.

"What makes you think she's a liar? Isn't it innocent until proven guilty?" Meredy piped in, sounding cheerful, "Also, me and Jellal have both _seen_ said alcoholic, so…"

They only smiled, "She lies about everything. She even lied and said that S-"

The person couldn't finish their sentence. I had pulled away from Jellal and punched them in the jaw.

"I didn't lie," I grumbled, bitterness clear in my voice.

The others looked to me shocked, even Jellal. I suppose they expected Jellal to punch them, if anyone. Instead, he had been silent the entire time - most likely to _stop_ himself from doing so.

"What the fuck?" The person backed away slightly, rubbing their jaw, "What, are you _that_ fucking sensitive?"

 _Yes, I'm that sensitive about something that actually happened and has been affecting me for a while now..._

Meredy stepped forwards, putting a hand on my shoulder in the process, "You guys really should just let that go if you aren't going to believe her. Everyone has heard of what Erza 'lied about' - although really, I doubt she's lying. You don't need to go around talking about shit like that."

I started to tremble slightly as I backed away and hid myself behind Jellal. I did _not_ want them to see me cry, like my eyes were threatening. Jellal and Meredy were one thing but the people that picked on me were another.

 _What the fuck did I do? I'm_ not _a violent person... I don't just hit people like that..._

"Shut up, Meredy," the person retorted, "You're probably just standing up for her because you're afraid of her _friend._ "

"Ha. As if. Not only was I friends with Jellal first, technically, but if I was scared of him, would I do this?" Meredy turned punching Jellal in the arm, hard. Jellal swore, grabbing his arm and glaring at Meredy. He didn't do anything else though, proving Meredy's point.

"Not only that," Meredy continued without giving Jellal a second thought, "but I'm standing up for her because well, not only am I her friend, but I think she's right. I think Simon did do the things she said he did, and I _know_ her situation is crap already and she doesn't need you guys making it worse."

"Wow... Meredy really has a way with words," a new voice chuckled, "You know, she isn't wrong either. Hell, I barely know these three, but it's fairly obvious what Erza's situation is. As for Simon... Well, I believe Erza. Mostly because soon after, Simon _moved away._ Also, why would someone lie about that? You'd have to be a _fucking asshole_ if you did. I mean, really?"

I turned around to see Ultear. She waved to me as she walked closer to stand beside Meredy.

"That doesn't _prove_ anything," one sneered, "Hey, innocent until proven guilty, right?"

Ultear laughed, "You guys really are idiots. First of all, proof that she's not an alcoholic... Sure she smelled of beer once in awhile, but did you smell beer in her breath? No. Secondly, those wounds she'd have everyday, you'd have to be fucking stupid to think she gave them to herself. As for the whole Simon thing, I have no proof, but you _should_ fucking believe someone when they tell you about something like that, or at _least_ look into it. You're a blind, ignorant asshole if you don't."

"It's like you guys are afraid to say it!" they chuckled, otherwise ignoring Ultear, and I tensed up, "Erza's clearly lying about Simo-"

Suddenly Jellal moved, blocking my vision as the person talking suddenly screamed in pain. They fell to the ground where I saw them clutching their eye, blood between their fingers.

"Well _shit!_ I didn't mean to blind you," Jellal looked slightly startled, wiping blood off his knuckles, "When someone is trying to break your nose, you shouldn't move and put your eye in the way, especially, if they're pissed off and not really paying attention to said moving. Now my fingers are bloody and you might never see out of that eye again, and… _Fuck!_ "

One of the three went to help their friend while the other took out a phone, hitting three numbers. She was shaking as she glared at us.

" _Fuck_ ," Jellal swore, "You don't need to get the police involved in this..."

" _Y-You blinded my friend, you monster!_ " they shrieked, "Of course I'm going to call the police!"

"In Jellal's defense," Ultear started, "Your friend _deserved_ it. If your friend knew how to properly protect their face, it wouldn't have happened. Plus, your friend _was_ being _a complete asshole_."

They flipped us off, talking into the phone instead of saying anything back. Meanwhile, Jellal was muttering swear words, rubbing his knuckles, trying to clear away the blood.

"Fuck, fuck, _fuck!_ Is it a crime to run?" Jellal looked to us, "Because as much as _I_ don't mind the alternative, Erza might, considering..."

 _Running doesn't sound like such a bad idea... There's a good chance father would be one of the ones to show up, and that wouldn't go well..._

"I vote we run," I whispered shakily, "I don't want to risk seeing _him_ again."

Ultear and Meredy both nodded, but before we could even start our departure, sirens sounded from behind us.

" _Fuck_."

Two police cars soon arrived with an ambulance behind them. Soon after they stopped, the blinded girl was brought away and two police officers stepped out of the cars.

To my horror, _he_ was there. I darted behind Jellal, trying to keep myself from passing out right then and there. Meredy and Ultear stood behind me, both glaring.

"Well, hello there," Father smiled as he approached us, "I figured it'd be you two..."

"F-Fuck off," Jellal stuttered slightly, still rubbing his hand, "Go away and send somebody else..."

"No thanks," he shrugged, "So, what happened here? And who are you two, back there?"

"Ultear Milkovich..." Ultear muttered dryly.

"Meredy," Meredy simply said, still glaring.

I tightly hugged Jellal from behind to help hide my tears.

"F-Father, g-go away," I whimpered, my voice muffled from me half pressing my face into Jellal's back.

"What happened here?" he repeated, ignoring me. His voice was slightly harsher, causing me to flinch.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Ultear beat me to it, "We're only going to talk to a police officer - nobody else."

"I _am_ a police officer," Father rose an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

"A man who beats his kid isn't a police officer," Ultear retorted, sending him a cold glare.

"Excuse me?" fake concern and surprise crossed his face, "I haven't done such a thing,"

" _Bull. Fucking. Shit._ " Jellal glared at him, clenching his hands into fists, "How would you explain Erza's scars? How would you explain the fact that a court deemed you risky enough that _you lost custody of your daughter_ ,"

He sighed, "This is irrelevant. What happened here?"

"We refuse to talk to you," Ultear stated, stepping forward, "We will only talk to a police officer - nobody else."

 _She's crazy… Definitely crazy._

"Victor?" he called back to the other man, who had been talking to the group of three, "They're refusing to talk."

Victor nodded, quickly heading over, "Would you guys like to explain why you won't talk?"

"We will only talk to a police officer," Ultear repeated again, glaring at Victor.

 _Well, isn't she a bundle of joy…?_

"I _am_ a police officer?" Victor raised an eyebrow.

" _He_ isn't," she pointed to my father, "Not to me at least. As for you, let's find out if I'll hold a grudge."

"Well," Victor sighed, correctly choosing not to argue, "What happened?"

"I-I wasn't here when it started," Ultear mumbled sourly, "You'll have to ask one of the other three about that. From the way I see things right now, you'll have the best luck asking Meredy. Jellal looks pissed off - I don't blame him either - and Erza is probably too scared."

"Yeah, I'll explain," Meredy nodded, "The group of three was verbally attacking Erza here, threatening blackmail. They were scaring her, so we started arguing with them and things just got worse and out of hand. At one point they were going to mention something private about Erza and- umm. I'm not exactly sure what happened there..."

"I tried breaking their nose, but they moved and my knuckle ripped out part of their eye..." Jellal sighed, rubbing his bloody hand, "I didn't mean to blind her, but I mean..."

"You were trying to break her nose though?" he asked, "All over a secret or something? Sorry, I just don't really understand..."

"It wasn't over a secret," I mumbled quietly, "They just said something they really shouldn't have."

"Which is?" he asked.

"I just blinded someone so they wouldn't say it. No offense, but why would we tell you?" Jellal asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't even know what they were going to say.

"I won't press. We'll get in touch after things have been worked out on the other side of things." Victor sighed, "By the way... Why isn't Howard here considered a police officer to you?"

"He's a fucking asshole," Ultear muttered.

 _Uh… She still barely knows me or my father for that matter… But she was quick to respond and very blunt in her response… Um…_

 _Okay then…?_

"She's Time," Meredy mumbled, seeing my look of confusion, "I've told her most I know about all of this."

"Why is that?" Victor asked Ultear. Father glared at her from behind Victor.

"Let's say you had a daughter, Victor… Would you ever hit her?" Ultear retorted.

"No!" Victor looked at her, wide eyed, "Of course not."

"Exactly… But your alcoholic _friend_ over here," she gestured towards my father, "He would hit his daughter. Why else would he lose custody over her?"

" _What_?" Father faked surprise.

Victor's eyes widened, "I-I uh... Look, I just started this job, so I can't say much about Howard, and this isn't really my business, uh... I-If that is the case, um..."

"Well, don't you think it's good to know about the people you work with?" Ultear muttered.

He sighed, "Anyways, I think I can trust you to go home by yourselves. However, I'll need names so I can get in touch with you; I can't remember what names you said before,"

"I'm Ultear Milkovich, the one with blue hair is Jellal Fernandes, the one next to him is Erza Scarlet, and that's Meredy… Uh… I don't know her last name," Ultear responded.

Meredy randomly started laughing, "Right… My last name… You don't really need that, right? Right? I could just give you my parents' phone numbers… Ha… ha… ha… Right? Plus, I'm the only Meredy..."

"Sure, that'll be fine," Victor nodded.

"Good… Good… Um… Let's go somewhere else while I give you their numbers… Ha… Ha… Yeah…" she started walking farther away from us, leaving Victor no choice but to follow her. Father had walked away as soon as Meredy started weirdly laughing, so that was good.

I wasn't sure when, but at some point, Jellal had started hugging me. All I know is that I didn't want him to let go of me. When Jellal thought I was calm enough and he tried to let go of me, I hugged him tighter so he wouldn't.

"Sorr-" I started but stopped myself. He didn't want me to apologize. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't want me to. I ruined everything.

" _Aw!_ " I heard Ultear from behind me.

"Shush…" Jellal muttered childishly as he hugged me tighter, making me laugh.

"Mary just called me," Meredy noted, coming back as the police started to leave, "Food's ready!"

I smiled and let go of Jellal, "Let's go then. I'm hungry anyways."

He chuckled, letting go of me, "Let's go then."

We headed back to Jellal's, Ultear inviting herself upon hearing about food. She and Meredy were snickering amongst themselves, but Jellal and I ignored them. We were almost there anyways.

"Now then," Jellal sighed as we approached the front door, "How do I go about telling my mom what happened?"

"Oh shit… Right…" I chuckled, "Uh… I don't know. However, she'll likely kill you when you do tell her…"

"So… Nice knowing you?" Meredy piped in.

Jellal simply sighed once more, opening the door. Mary immediately ran over, smiling.

"I made Pizz-," she stopped, frowning, "Jellal, why is there blood on your hand? What happened?"

"Pizza?" Ultear stepped inside, "Don't mind if I do..."

"Ultear!" Meredy followed her to the kitchen, ditching us by the front door.

"Um..." Jellal refused to make eye contact, "I - uh- I punched someone because they were picking on Erza..."

"Causing that much blood?" Mary raised an eyebrow, "Explain."

"My knuckle, um, maybe-might've-gone-through-their-eye." Jellal mumbled quickly.

Mary frowned, and we stood there in awkward silence for a while as she thought about what Jellal had just said.

"Jellal, go clean yourself up," Mary sighed after a while, "Erza, come get some pizza, I made plenty. I already ate, so I'm going to go upstairs."

I nodded and quickly went to the kitchen. Knowing Meredy's appetite, there was a good chance that she'd eat all the pizza. Plus Ultear was with her and who knew what her appetite was like.

Two pizzas laid out on the counter, one was already more than halfway gone. I grabbed a slice and sat down in my usual spot.

While Meredy and Ultear were giggling about something, I silently ate my pizza.

" _Hey Erza..._ " Meredy called to me, sounding like a little kid, " _Can I ask you something?"_

"Uh…" I hesitated, "Sure?"

" _Do you..."_ Meredy hesitated, smiling, " _Do you_ like _Jellal?_ "

"W-What?" I stammered, looking down so they couldn't see that I was blushing, "H-He's a good friend…"

"Oh, _really_?" Ultear chuckled along with Meredy, "You seem to like him a little more than that..."

I shook my head, "N-Nope…"

 _Can they shut up?_

"Then why are you stuttering?" Meredy pressed.

"Sh-Shut up," I muttered.

 _Dammit… I can't control my stuttering..._

"What are you guys talking about?" I looked to see Jellal, confused, " _Wait, do I_ want _to know?"_

"Nope. You don't," I quickly responded before continuing eating my pizza.

" _Meredy..._ " Jellal glared at her.

"Sorry!" she quickly bit into yet another slice of pizza, so she wouldn't have to speak.

I softly chuckled, "Jellal, you better get some pizza before Ultear and Meredy eat it all…"

"Right..." Jellal nodded, grabbing a piece as he sat down next to me.

I quickly finished my slice of pizza and patiently waited for the others to finish. Jellal gave me another slice of pizza as Meredy and Ultear took two from the next pizza.

"But… But… I'm not hungry…" I complained.

"Too bad?" Jellal shrugged, "Eat it anyways,"

"But…" I started to complain, "Fine…"

Sighing, I took a bite of the pizza. Meredy and Ultear started giggling about something again, causing me to blush and Jellal to glare at them.

"You guys better go to bed soon," Mary peeked into the room as Jellal and I finished our homework. Jellal nodded, saying something in agreement as I worked on one of my two science papers. I checked the time.

 _11:30 pm_

"We should get some sleep…" I yawned, saving the document and closing my computer.

"Yeah, goodnight." Jellal sighed, closing his laptop.

"Goodnight." I nodded, still yawning as I stood up and put my computer on Jellal's desk then went downstairs. Curling up on the couch, I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.

" _Come on, Erza," Simon pressed, "It'll be fun."_

" _N-No," I shook my head, "Simon, I don't want to."_

 _He took a step closer to me, and I took a step back, hitting a wall. Simon closed the gap between us and put his hands on my waist. He kissed me, and I quickly shoved him away._

" _Simon," I muttered, starting to walk away, "No."_

 _Simon grabbed my wrist tightly before I could get far._

" _What the hell, Erza?" he shouted._

Falling off the couch, I woke up screaming. I didn't get up off the ground though; I just sat there crying.

" _E-Erza?_ " Jellal came running down the stairs, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"No… Nope… No," I whimpered shakily.

"Erza?" Jellal ran over to me, pulling me up into a hug, "It's okay Erza, you're safe,"

"Sorry," I whispered, trying to catch my breath, "I'm sorry…"

I hugged him tightly and started to cry more. Jellal simply stood there, hugging me back as I cried.

Shaking my head, I mumbled, "No… Nope. I'm not safe. Nope."

"Yes, you are," Jellal argued, "Nobody here will _ever_ hurt you, okay?"

"Th-They can s-still get to me though," I stammered, "Nope… Not safe."

"No, they can't. You're _safe_. I'll make sure of it," Jellal argued, hugging me tighter.

I wiped my tears away but more tears came. Taking a deep breath, I attempted to wipe away my tears once more.

"Are you sure?" I mumbled once I calmed myself down enough to speak without stuttering.

"Yes, I'm sure," he nodded.

"Okay," I whispered, "Okay… S-Sorry for waking you up…"

"No," he shook his head, "No apologizing. No."

"But…" I started to complain, "Okay…"

"I don't think you understand," Jellal shook his head, "No apologizing. Never."

"Okay, s-" I started, then shook my head, "Okay."

We stood there hugging each other in silence for a while.

"Hey Jellal…" I mumbled.

"Hm?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Uh…" I hesitated, "N-Never mind… I-It's a st-stupid question…"

 _Just a stupid question…_

"No question is a stupid question," he argued, "What is it?"

I opened my mouth to tell him he was wrong but decided against it. Instead, I asked my question, "Why don't you hate me?"

"Why would I?" he asked back, "I have no reason to hate you…"

"But… Everyone hates me…" I mumbled quietly.

"I don't know why they do," he shrugged, "It's not like you even did _anything_ wrong. I guess they're just a bunch of idiots and assholes."

I shook my head, "I've done everything wrong… And you have every reason to hate me."

"Such as?" Jellal sighed, "Name _one_ thing I could _hate_ you for."

"I wake you up in the middle of the night," I muttered.

"I'd rather wake up than having you freaking out with me doing _nothing_." he countered.

"You get in trouble because of me," I added.

"I sent someone to the hospital before I even _met_ you," he argued, "I'd get in trouble no matter what."

"I worry you," I mumbled quietly.

"Well, yeah," he sighed, "But that's not your fault, and I only worry because I _care about you."_

" _Why?_ " I whispered, tears starting to return, "Why do you care about me?"

"Why shouldn't I?" he countered.

"I don't know," I responded softly, "I just get scared when people care… It usually doesn't end well."

"You don't need to be scared of me," Jellal mumbled, resting his chin on my shoulder, "I won't _ever_ hurt you, I promise."

"I know you won't hurt me," I replied, "But… I'm not afraid of you actually. I'm afraid of what could happen to you."

"You don't need to be afraid _for_ me either." he sighed, "Although I appreciate it."

I hugged him tightly, "I don't want to lose you."

"You won't," he hugged me slightly tighter, "Ever. I promise."

"Good," I yawned.

"Now then," he finally decided to let go of me, "We should get some more sleep, it's around one in the morning, yet."

I nodded, letting go of him, "Okay…"

Yawning once more, I curled up on the couch again. I heard Jellal sit down on the end of the couch, deciding against going back upstairs. Smiling, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Knowing Jellal was right there made it easier than it normally would've been.

* * *

 **One of you - I don't remember who - guessed that it was Ultear they were going to meet at the park, and you were right!**

 **Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

 **Have a good day/night!**


	15. Chapter 13

**Hello! I'm back from the dead! I am so sorry, guys. I forgot to update last week, and when I did remember, I didn't hae internet connection. Please forgive me.**

 **Anyways, enjoy chapter 13!**

"Jellal, wake up! It's Friday!" I yelled cheerfully from the foot of Jellal's bed. Thankfully Jellal's father still wasn't back and his mother left early again.

"Come on! We only have to suffer for about eight hours then we're school free for two days!" I added.

I was just a _little_ excited…

"I don't wanna," he turned over in his bed, cowering in the corner, " _No…"_

"It's just one more day…" I pointed out, "Plus, I have to turn in my papers today. Well… I don't _have_ to, but I have them done."

"But it's _school_ …" he complained, "A whole nother _day_ of it too…"

I laughed, "I know… I really don't want to go either, but I should turn my papers in as soon as possible. Plus, Mary will be upset if we skip a day. Anyways, it's just one day and then the weekend!"

"Are you sure?" Jellal sighed.

"I'm sure. However, if you _really want_ to skip school, I'm fine with that. Mary won't be though, and I'll make you clean your room. You have a _really_ messy room," I replied, crossing my arms.

"School it is," Jellal yawned, getting up, "I'll be ready in ten minutes, max."

"Okay," I smiled, starting to walk out of his room, "Want me to make breakfast?"

"If you're up to it," he sighed, "No need to make anything big though,"

"Alright," I nodded, leaving his room and closing the door behind me. I went downstairs to the kitchen and looked for something to make.

Eventually, I sighed and gave up, "He gets toast…"

I took out the toaster and the bread, and I put a couple of slices of toast in the toaster.

When the toast was finished, I waited a few minutes before yelling up to Jellal, "Hurry up or I'll eat your food!"

"I'm hurrying!" he called down, "I just wanted to take a quick shower!"

Shortly after he came down the stairs, hair still wet from said shower from before. Upon seeing the toast he smiled.

"Did you make yourself some?" he asked, sitting down. He eagerly bit into a slice.

"I was about to, but I wanted to make sure you didn't fall back asleep first," I responded, putting two more slices of bread in the toaster. I smiled to myself, not willing to turn around right away. Jellal looked really adorable, and with my luck, I was probably grinning like an idiot.

"Good," I heard him say, "You sleep well?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "Did you?"

"Yep," he yawned, "Although I'd rather sleep in…"

"I gave you that option," I chuckled, "You'd just have to clean your room if you did."

When my toast was done, I took a seat next to Jellal and began to eat.

"Let's go so we don't miss the bus," I mumbled as I finished my last piece of toast, "You know Meredy will be upset if we miss the bus…"

"Right…" Jellal nodded, moving to put his plate away, "We should hurry…"

We quickly put our stuff away, grabbed our bags, and left the house. We barely got to the bus stop before the bus was there. We sat down by Meredy, like usual.

"Hey guys!" Meredy smiled, "It's Friday!"

I smiled, "Yeah, and _somebody_ tried refusing to get out of bed."

"Who would that be?" Jellal asked, chuckling.

"My lazy blue haired friend," I laughed.

We sat in silence for a while, and I rested my head on Jellal's shoulder. The bus ride was surprisingly peaceful until we were almost to the school.

"The slut _must be dating him_ ," someone from behind us stated.

"Do you really think she'd date someone else? I mean… Surely he knows how much of a slut she is. Everyone in school knows what she did after dating Simon…" another person responded.

My fists clenched as I glared at the seat in front of me.

" _Did you know they have ears too?"_ Jellal mumbled, albeit a bit loud.

One of them laughed, "Yeah… So you just chose not to listen to all the warnings you've heard? People have attempted to warn you about her. You just ended up punching them."

"I don't _need_ any warnings," Jellal countered, "What is she going to do, try murdering me in my sleep or something? No rumor about her that I've heard of has any truth to it, anyways."

"I didn't think anybody would be so stupid as to date a slut," they muttered, "I guess I was wrong…"

 _First of all, I'm not a slut. Secondly, we aren't dating. I wish we were though. I mean… Uh…_

"Uh…" Jellal awkwardly looked away, "She's not a slut, and _we_ _aren't dating…_ "

"You two sure act like you're dating," someone else stated.

"Guys?" Meredy piped in, "You do know that's because Jellal practically _saved her life_ , right? I mean even if they do like each other, that's probably a huge part of it, not to mention that they are around each other all day…"

"They aren't around each other _all_ day…" somebody muttered, "Just at school."

"Um, no," Meredy corrected them, "Erza's father lost custody over her because her safety was questionable at home so now Jellal's mom has custody over her. So no, they are around each other _all day_ because _they live together._ "

Someone snickered, "She probably doesn't _actually_ have problems with her father. She probably lied about that to be with Jellal…"

"Shut up!" I whimpered, tears forming in my eye. I stubbornly wiped the tears away. Jellal grabbed my hand.

"She didn't lie," Jellal disagreed, his voice cold, "In fact, she stubbornly denied it for the longest time. She's _not_ a liar, despite popular belief."

I didn't hear what their response was because I whispered to Jellal, "I want to go home… I don't want to cry here."

"It'll be oka-" Jellal didn't get to finish talking as he was cut off by one of the assholes in front of us.

"Oh, is she _crying?_ " they laughed, "How _pathetic_!"

I flinched. Why did they always have to say things close to what my father would say? The bus soon pulled up in front of the school. I quickly stood up and got off the bus. As soon as I was off the bus, I ran towards Jellal's house - tears rolling down my face.

"Erza!" Jellal called out, running after me.

I continued running for a bit then stopped to let Jellal catch up. He would be worried if I didn't wait, and I'd feel bad if I worried him too much. I dropped to my knees and cried, my sobs loud.

"Erza…" Jellal sat down next to me, at a loss of words. I leaned against him, biting my wrist to quiet my sobs.

 _They're the reason I can't trust easily…_

Jellal grabbed my wrist, gently pulling it away from my teeth.

"You can cry as loud as you want, Erza," Jellal whispered, "It's okay,"

I hugged him tightly and cried loudly until I became lightheaded. When I couldn't cry anymore, I pulled away from him and started picking at the grass. My vision was blurry since I didn't even bother to wipe the tears off my face.

"Will you be okay, Erza?" Jellal asked, pulling me into a hug once more.

"Yeah," I mumbled, "Maybe…"

"Let's go back home, okay? It's not that far from here." Jellal sighed, letting go of me.

I nodded, slowly standing up, "O-Okay…"

Jellal stood up and held my hand as we walked back to his house. It seemed like a painfully long distance suddenly. I tripped multiple times, Jellal catching me before I could fully fall. Needless to say, I was grateful to see the place as we approached.

"Does this mean I have to clean my room?" Jellal sighed, chuckling.

I giggled, "Yup. I was going to make you clean your room anyways. The mess is starting to annoy me."

"Hey!" he glared at me, " _It's not that messy…_ "

"But it's still messy," I smirked.

"No…" he looked away as we walked up the driveway. We entered the house, giggling.

"Anyways, you should get some more sleep while I clean my room," Jellal suggested, letting go of my hand.

"But I got plenty of sleep…" I complained, "I don't need _more_ sleep."

"Did you…?" Jellal questioned, looking to me.

I nodded, "Yeah, I got a whole… Um… Five hours…?"

"What?" Jellal looked to me, "Get more sleep. You should get like _nine_ hours of sleep!"

"I can't sleep that long," I shook my head, "I always fall asleep at about eleven, and I wake up at about four. Unless I fall asleep _really_ late. Then I only get one to two hours of sleep."

"That's awful," Jellal shook his head, "That's _unhealthy."_

I frowned and looked at him in confusion, "But that's how much sleep I always get... I feel perfectly fine…"

"That doesn't mean it's healthy!" Jellal complained, "It just means you're really _unhealthy_."

"Fine, I'll sleep," I mumbled, crossing my arms.

"Good," Jellal smiled, "I'll go clean my room,"

"Good," I replied walking over to the couch. I curled up on the couch, and Jellal threw a blanket over me. Smiling, I buried myself under the blanket and closed my eyes. It took me a while to fall asleep since I wasn't used to falling back asleep in the mornings, but I eventually did.

When I woke up, Jellal was talking on the phone. Although it would be considered rude, I listened as he talked. It's not like I had anything else to do.

"-I can't just leave her; she might freak out when she wakes up then," Jellal stated, "I know… But I don't want to wake her up either…"

There was a long pause as the person on the other end responded.

"Just wait… We'll be there as soon as possible," he sighed.

I heard him walk closer to me, and I mumbled sleepily, "I'm awake…"

"W-We have to go to the hospital," Jellal mumbled, his voice shaking as he looked away, "Something happened and Dad's there and…"

I quickly sat up, "Okay... "

I stood up, and we quickly put on our shoes. We left the house and began walking toward the hospital. It was quite a distance, but it's not like we could get a ride. We walked in silence the whole time.

"There you are!"

We stopped, looking back to see Meredy running towards us. She no longer had her backpack with her, but she definitely should've still been at school, considering the time.

"Uh…" I raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you… Be at school…?"

"I wasn't about to go to school after you guys didn't," she shrugged, "So I went home instead, put my stuff away, 'explained' to my stupid fucking step-mom why I wasn't at school, got grounded, and then I snuck out to find you guys. You?"

"Okay then…?" I mumbled, glancing at Jellal, "Uh… We're on our way to the hospital…"

"My Dad's there…" Jellal sighed, looking away.

"Oh…" Meredy frowned, "Mind if I come with? Sorry, it's just that I have nowhere to go and-"

"Sure, come with," Jellal nodded, "I'd appreciate the company."

We continued walking in silence after that. There wasn't really much to say. I mean… What could we say? It wasn't long before we could see the hospital.

"Mom said he's in the first building, third floor. She'll meet us there," Jellal mumbled as we got close. I nodded in response, looking down.

When we got to the hospital, we went to where Jellal said Mary would meet us. She was already there waiting for us. She smiled at us, but I could tell her smile was forced. Her eyes gave away the sadness she attempted to hide.

"Wh-What happened?" Jellal asked, his voice shaking.

"Joe was in a c-c-c" Mary never finished her sentence, bursting into tears and hugging Jellal instead.

"Hey," Meredy whispered to me, "Let's go get a snack over there,"

She pointed to a small kitchen like corner, "I have enough money to get us both something from the vending machine."

I nodded, and we quickly went over to the vending machine. Meredy got us two small bags of chips.

"I've never even met Joe, yet this is sad," Meredy mumbled, opening her bag of chips.

"Yeah…" I mumbled quietly, "He's a good man…"

"Hopefully it's not too bad..." Meredy sighed, "Well, Mary and Jellal are coming back here. Let's go."

"H-Hey guys," Jellal mumbled, not making eye contact.

"Hey," I mumbled, "Do you want something to eat? You could have my chips..."

"No," Jellal shook his head, "Y-You probably need them more than me. I'll eat something else later."

"Well," Mary mumbled, "Th-They won't let anyone v-visit him r-r-right now so..."

"Want to sit down?" Meredy suggested, smiling softly.

Mary nodded, and we headed over to some chairs not that far away. Mary looked over to us.

"I-If you want better food, I-I can give you guys s-some cash for something nearby..." Mary offered.

I slightly shook my head, "No, it's fine."

"O-Okay..." Mary mumbled, wiping her eyes.

We sat in silence for a long time. I think Meredy actually fell asleep, but I wasn't sure until I heard her snoring. That's when I lightly hit her stomach, and she flinched awake. Jellal held my hand tightly, and I rested my head on his shoulder. We waited there for a while.

"Mrs. Fernandes?" a nurse came down the hall.

"Th-That's me," Mary stood up, wiping her eyes.

"You can see him now," she smiled.

Mary nodded and Jellal stood up slowly as I moved.

"I'll be right here when you get back," Meredy smiled.

Jellal nodded as he and Mary left us and went to visit Joe. If Meredy hadn't been there, I would've gone with them because I didn't want to be in public alone.

Meredy and I talked for a while, but eventually she started looking through some of the magazines. I just simply made myself comfortable on the chair I was sitting on and fell asleep.

I woke up to someone lightly shaking my arm, and I muttered a couple of swear words. At least I didn't wake up from a nightmare; that would've been awkward.

"Erza…" Meredy mumbled, "No swearing…"

I yawned, opening my eyes and stretching, "Fine… But why'd you wake me up…?"

"We can go to see Joe if you want. Mary and Jellal are still down there," she told me.

"Oh okay," I stood up, stretching once more. We made our way down to the room Joe was in. We stopped at the entrance.

Joe laid in a classical hospital bed, unconscious. Tubes ran around him, a few connecting to his mouth and nose, and a few going down his throat. Wires went to a heart monitor and an IV attached to his arm, which was black with bruises, and his eyes were slightly open, only showing the whites beneath. His left side seemed to have taken the worst of it, while the other was fine.

Meredy gasped as she covered her mouth. I just stood there unsure of what to feel. After all, I had never seen that bad of injuries on someone else.

"Th-The other c-car blew a red light…Tried to s-stop but..." Mary whispered. She sat in a chair near the bed, holding Joe's hand. Jellal sat farther away, looking at the ground.

I quietly walked over to where Jellal was, unsure of what else to do. I held Jellal's hand and sat down by him.

"Hey," Jellal whispered quietly.

"Hey," I murmured, "How are you?"

"I've been better," he sighed.

"Yeah…" I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. I heard him sniffle, and he quickly wiped his eyes.

"Thank you, Erza…" he whispered.

"You're welcome," I mumbled, hugging him.

"-for everything," he added, hugging me back.

"No problem…" I murmured.

I wasn't even quite sure why he was thanking me. As far as I could see, I hadn't done anything helpful.

"You two can stop hugging each other now…" Meredy whispered, causing us both to flinch and let go.

Blushing, I held Jellal's hand once more and awkwardly looked down.

"I-Is it okay if I stay here overnight?" Mary asked us, "I can give you guys a ride home and give you money so you can buy some pizza or something…"

"Yeah," I nodded, "We can walk home too if you want to stay here…"

"No, I'd rather give you a ride," Mary insisted, "I could use some fresh air,"

With a nod, we soon headed out of the room and down to the parking lot. We quietly got into the van.

"Meredy, I can bring you to our house or yours. Which would you prefer?" Mary asked.

"Yours," Meredy quickly replied, "Definitely yours."

"Got it," Mary smiled, heading down the road.

The ride home was fairly silent. Mary ended up stopping somewhere to pick up pizza for us. When we got home, we started eating right away; Mary ate a slice before she left to go back to the hospital. I ate two slices because I know Jellal would've made me anyways. Meredy ate about three-fourths of a pizza, and Jellal slowly ate a couple slices.

"We still have a pizza left…" Meredy smiled, pulling the box closer to her.

I rolled my eyes, "I don't see how you can have such a big appetite… I can barely finish two slices, and the second one is just because Jellal always makes me eat more than what I normally take."

"I don't see how you can eat so _little_ ," Meredy countered, "I mean, _how?_ "

"I don't get very hungry," I shrugged, "I think Jellal's the only one here that eats a normal amount of food…"

"Surprisingly," Jellal mumbled.

"Well, it evens out at least," Meredy shrugged, grabbing another slice.

I nodded, "Yeah… Except for when Ultear's here. Her appetite is somewhere between yours and Jellal's."

"Actually, she ate more than me last time," Meredy corrected me, "She has a _way_ bigger appetite than me…"

"Wait… She did?" I raised an eyebrow, "I didn't even realize that… _How did she eat that much?_ "

"She was hungry?" Meredy shrugged.

"Geez… Do most people eat that much or is it just you two and probably a few other people?" I muttered quietly.

"Just them," Jellal answered quickly, "Most people eat two to three _slices_ , not two to three _pizzas."_

"Uh…" I sighed, "That's a lot…"

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Meredy chuckled, "Oh, hey, can I stay the night?"

"Sure?" Jellal nodded, "You do have to go back _eventually_ …"

"I know, I know…" Meredy sighed.

They soon finished their shares of the pizza, and we ended up sitting in the living room talking. Well, Jellal and Meredy were talking. I was playing games on Jellal's computer.

"Oh come on! Admit it!" Meredy pleaded.

"No." Jellal shook his head stubbornly.

"Guys…?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Jellal sighed, "It's nothing."

"Something," Meredy smiled, "It's something."

I shook my head, "You two are really weird…"

"Yep!" Meredy smiled once more, "Now then, Jellal…"

"Fine." Jellal mumbled, "I do. Now will you shut up?"

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear any of this…" I mumbled, shaking my head once more.

"Thank you," Jellal sighed before glaring at Meredy, who was laughing. I nodded, softly chuckling as I continued to play games. They weren't very interesting games, but they cured my boredom.

"Is it already eleven?" Meredy asked upon looking over my shoulder once more, surprised.

I closed Jellal's computer and leaned against Jellal - who was sitting next to me on the couch.

"Goodnight…" I mumbled.

"Goodnight, Erza." Jellal smiled.

"Jellal, I'm stealing your bed," Meredy sighed, leaving, "Don't get any weird ideas, Jellal."

"Meredy!" Jellal glared at her before looking back to me, "Sorry, I'll shut up now. Goodnight..."

 **Well? How'd you like it? Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

 **Oh, and I might post chapter 14 sometime this week as well to make up for last week because I have it mostly done.**


	16. Chapter 14

**Hello! I'm back with another chapter! Um... I don't have much to say, so enjoy the chapter!**

Surprisingly, I didn't have any nightmares. Once again, I slept peacefully. I woke up when I heard Meredy grumbling, "Guys… You've been sleeping _forever_ …."

"What time is it?" I groaned sleepily.

"Ten," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "You guys are lazy. I was up at seven!"

I sat up, yawning, "I slept _way_ longer than normal…"

"Do I have to get up?" Jellal murmured, opening his eyes.

I chuckled, "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't," Jellal declared, closing his eyes once more.

"Well, I won't complain, but Meredy might," I murmured cuddling up against him again.

"Guys…" Meredy sighed, "Fine. You can cuddle with each other, but then _you can't deny-"_

"Yes I can," Jellal mumbled, cutting her off.

"Shush…" I muttered, yawning once more. I wrapped my arms around Jellal and rested my head on his shoulder. He ended up laying down, pulling me along with him so that I was between him and the couch.

"Aww…" Meredy chuckled, walking away.

I blushed but stayed where I was. It was very comfortable, so I didn't want to move. Jellal didn't say anything; he just shifted slightly and kept his eyes closed.

To be honest, if I were with anyone else in this position, I'd most likely be panicking. Jellal was one of the few people I trusted. In fact, I trusted Jellal almost from the moment I first met him. He was the first person I had trusted since Simon… Well yeah…

Although I was still kind of tired, I didn't let myself fall back asleep. I'd feel bad if I had a nightmare. Instead, I listened to Meredy as she found some food for herself in the kitchen. She wasn't even trying to be quiet; I was amazed Jellal could even fall back asleep. I knew for sure that he had fallen back asleep though because he was softly snoring.

Suddenly a phone nearby went off, causing Jellal to wake up. He moved slightly to reach it, but Meredy had already started running over.

"I got it, I got it," Meredy mumbled, running over and grabbing Jellal's phone, "You two can continue being cute."

"Meredy speaking!" Meredy cheerfully answered, "Jellal's too busy cuddling with Erza to answer,"

I blushed and buried my face against Jellal's chest. Did Meredy really have to answer the phone with that statement?

 _I am not blushing… I am not blushing. I am not blushing._

"Oh, how is he?" Meredy became quieter, pausing before she continued, "That's great. Do you want us to come down? We can walk over there if you'd like,"

There was a small pause as the person on the other end - most likely Mary - spoke. I could vaguely hear her, but she sounded happy.

"Okay!" Meredy smiled, "That'd be great. I'll see you then. Bye!"

Meredy pressed a button on the phone, ending the call. She set Jellal's phone back down on the counter, before turning to us.

"Joe's recovering quickly. He's conscious," Meredy told us, "Mary said she'd pick us up for lunch at one, but you can nap for another hour or two."

"Okay!" Jellal responded quickly, his voice light from happiness, "Goodnight!"

Smiling, I shifted slightly and wrapped my arms around Jellal once more, pulling myself closer to him - if that were even possible.

I woke to someone poking my face. Looking up, I glared at Meredy, who only giggled in return.

 _Wait, when did I fall asleep?_

"I couldn't wake Jellal so… Do you want food or not?" Meredy asked, smiling.

I nodded, yawning. Meredy then left me to wake up Jellal. Sighing, I debated how I would manage to wake him up since his arms were now wrapped around me, and I could barely move as I was pressed up against his chest.

"Jellal…" I murmured, "Food…"

"Food?" he whispered.

I chuckled softly, "Yeah. Sadly, we have to get up in order to get food."

"Oh," he slowly let go of me, "Well, you're somehow laying on my arm, so you should get up first…"

"Oh… Right…" I mumbled, sitting up - careful not to accidentally push him off the couch. He got up soon after me, yawning as he stretched.

"Mary will be here in about ten minutes sleepyheads, so make yourselves presentable." Meredy chuckled.

"We slept past noon?" Jellal announced, surprised, "I suppose it was a long day yesterday…"

I stretched and ran my fingers through my messy hair to make it somewhat better. Yawning, I stood up and stretched.

Suddenly something was chucked at my face and I ducked, causing it to hit the couch behind me. For a moment I panicked, before noticing it was only a hairbrush.

"Use my hairbrush," Meredy sighed, "Your hair's a _mess_."

I turned and picked up the brush, and I began to brush my hair. When I finished brushing my hair, I placed the brush on the couch next to me and looked to Meredy.

"Might want to change clothes too…" Meredy advised, leaning back against a nearby wall.

"Hm?" I looked down at the clothes I was wearing. They looked fine to me.

"You wore them yesterday. You were out in public yesterday." Meredy pointed out, "No offense, but if someone from school were to see you…"

"Oh… Right…" I mumbled, leaving to grab some different clothes. I then walked to the bathroom to change and brush my teeth. When I finished, I went back into the living room and sat down on the couch.

" _Jellal!_ " Meredy called up to where Jellal had gone, " _Are you ready, yet?_ "

" _Almost!"_

"How do you guys get ready normally? By sleeping?" Meredy chuckled.

"I usually wake up at four then attempt to wake Jellal up at six. He always comes down just as I finish making breakfast. That or I have to threaten to eat his breakfast…" I explained. That would probably be hard for Meredy to believe since it took us quite a while to get up and get ready to go get food.

"I have yet to miss breakfast." Jellal added, coming down the stairs to greet us.

I smiled, "You almost did yesterday though."

"No…" Jellal looked away, but I could see him smiling.

Meredy looked out the window, "Oh! She's here! Come on! _Food!"_

Jellal and I quickly went to the door and put on our shoes. As we left the house, Jellal tossed a sweatshirt to me, and we eagerly got in Mary's van. She smiled as we entered, greeting us with a wave.

"Where to?" Jellal asked, excited.

"I was thinking we'd get some burgers at a place nearby…" Mary suggested as she pulled out of the driveway.

"Okay," I nodded in agreement. We soon were on our way, heading to a place about halfway to the hospital. We pulled up at some building with a fair amount of cars beside it and started to get out of the van.

As we entered the building, I stayed close to Jellal since I wasn't sure what to do. Plus, it was noisy inside and crowded. Most people probably wouldn't say it was crowded though.

"Booth for four," Mary said upon approaching a girl at a podium like thing. She nodded, saying a few things and leading us to two cushioned bench like things that faced each other with a table between them. A 'booth' I supposed. The 'waiter' - as the girl had said - set down four pamphlets labeled 'menu' and left. We all took seats, me by Jellal and Meredy by Mary.

I looked at Jellal expectantly, still unsure of what to do.

"Look at the menu and find something you want to eat. I assume you want Pepsi, or do you want something else to drink?" Jellal asked.

"Pepsi," I mumbled, picking up the menu. I didn't want get anything that I hadn't tried because that would be wasteful.

"Erza," Mary looked to me, "If you look at prices, I will be _very_ disappointed in you, okay?"

"But…" I muttered then shook my head. Anybody who has met Mary would know that it was pointless to argue with her.

"Now find something you want to eat," Jellal smiled.

I nodded and looked at the different foods and their descriptions; I did kind of glace at the prices, making sure I didn't choose something that was way too expensive.

"Erza, I see that." Jellal chuckled, "The most expensive thing is like fifteen dollars. No need to worry."

"But… Fine…" I sighed. There was no winning when it came to Jellal's family. They were too observant.

After a while the waiter came by and asked us what we wanted to drink. We all ended up getting Pepsi, and the waiter went to go get our drinks.

I eventually decided on getting a plain burger. It was better than getting something I hadn't tried before and possibly wasting it. Jellal tried to get me to get something else - saying it would be fine if I didn't like it. Surprisingly, it didn't work; I actually won that argument.

"Do you know your orders?" the waiter asked when she arrived with our drinks. We all did, and it wasn't long before the waiter was on her way.

"First time at a restaurant?" Meredy asked quietly.

I nodded and leaned against Jellal, "Father never took me places."

Meredy nodded, "It must suck, having to get used to things others have done their whole life…"

"Yeah…" I mumbled.

"Err… Sorry, sore topic. I'll shut up now." Meredy looked down at the table.

"It's fine," I shrugged, looking down at my hands.

"So, what were you guys doing until one?" Mary asked.

 _Wait, didn't Meredy tell her…?_

"Sleeping," Jellal shrugged.

"Cuddling," Meredy 'coughed'.

I blushed and stayed silent, not quite trusting my voice; I slightly smiled and wished I were still sleeping. Jellal apparently thought this was a good strategy as he just stared out the window as if he was deaf and had not heard Meredy.

Mary chuckled, "Oh really now…"

I awkwardly laughed and started folding a napkin into random shapes to distract myself. It wasn't long before food came, and a rather large burger was set in front of me, complete with fries.

 _There's no way I'll be able to finish all of this…_

Sighing, I began to eat anyways. I started with the burger since I was afraid I wouldn't be hungry enough to finish it. Jellal ate a similar burger, which was just slightly bigger. Meredy ate two _huge_ burgers, and Mary ate one not unlike mine.

When I finished my burger, I wasn't even hungry for the fries. I awkwardly pushed them towards Meredy since I knew for sure that she'd be hungry enough.

"Yay!" Meredy eagerly pushed them on to one of her own plates before anyone could argue.

"It's cold in here…" I complained quietly.

"I gave you a sweatshirt…" Jellal rolled his eyes.

"But… But it's still cold…" I murmured as I actually put on the sweatshirt.

"You'll warm up or get used to it," Mary smiled.

I nodded and hugged myself to keep warm while the others finished eating. It didn't take too long, and soon we were heading out the door and back to the van. We started heading to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, I held Jellal's hand as we entered the building. It was slightly warmer there, thankfully. We headed up to the third floor and down the hall.

Joe was unconscious, but there was no tubes connecting to him. Only an IV and a heart monitor. He was simply sleeping. The bruises on his arm and side looked worse, but without the extra equipment he looked better overall.

Mary sat in the chair next to him and Jellal sat next to her this time. Meredy and I sat in the chairs nearest to the door, not really wanting to intrude.

We were there for about half an hour before a nurse came in and suggested we leave while they checked up on him themselves. We could stay, but the nurses would have to work around us. We decided to leave and went back to the van.

Monday morning came all too soon. Jellal actually got up before me for once because he actually set his alarm. Meanwhile, I was refusing to get up.

" _Erza…"_ Jellal sighed, "You can't lie there _forever…_ "

"Yes I can," I mumbled, "I don't want to go to school…"

" _I had to go to school…"_ Jellal rolled his eyes.

"But now you don't have to…" I muttered, "I'm staying here."

"You have papers to turn in," Jellal pointed out.

"People are going to be mean though," I complained, "Especially because on Friday, I left school crying, and that was just after being on the bus…"

"Look, Erza," Jellal sighed, "People will _always_ be mean. Why? Who knows. There is no way around the fact. You can try ignoring them - like I'm sure you already have - or you can give them a reason to not want to - like I have. Either way, the people aren't about to drop dead. Not going to school however, is _illegal._ You have to go, whether you like it or not."

I curled up into a ball to hide my face and whispered, "It's hard… Everything they say is either way too close to the truth or the complete opposite. That or they say something Father would often say…"

"Well, what do you want them to see?" Jellal asked.

"The truth," I mumbled, "But the truth hurts worse than the lies…"

Stretching, I realized I didn't want to risk him questioning anything, so I yawned, "Fine… I'll go to school. I'll be ready in a few minutes."

 _Time for another day of hell…_

I stood up and grabbed some clothes to change into. Before Jellal could say anything, I went to the bathroom and got ready.

When I came out, Jellal had poured some cereal for me and was eating a bowl of his own.

"I'm a bad cook, so this is all you get," he chuckled.

 _He's cooked before though…? The food wasn't_ that _bad..._

I laughed and and sat down next to Jellal, "Alright, I'll be sure I'm up before you tomorrow."

"I'm going to hold you to that," he chuckled.

I smiled and started to eat my cereal, "So cuddling isn't an option tonight?"

"Good point…" Jellal sighed.

I smiled once more, "There's always as soon as we get home."

"Until when…?" Jellal mumbled.

"Right… Uh… Dinner? Because I know we'll both get up for food," I chuckled, "However, it also depends on how much homework we get…"

"Sounds like a plan," Jellal nodded upon finishing his cereal. He quickly put his bowl away.

"Yay!" I said with a bit too much excitement. I awkwardly finished my cereal, trying not to laugh.

We hurried to make the bus, almost missing it once more. I sighed in disappointment. As usual, we sat next to Meredy. Meredy was by the window, I was in the middle, and Jellal was awkwardly on the edge of the seat.

"Oh hey, _they're_ back." somebody muttered.

I flinched and held Jellal's hand.

 _Whatever… Who cares? They're just ignorant assholes._

"Did you see her run off crying?" they asked.

I clenched my fist and glared at the seat in front of me.

"What a wimp." they scoffed, causing the others around them to laugh in agreement.

 _Shut up… Shut up. Shut up._

"She's just _so_ sensitive…" one nodded.

 _I wonder why… It's not like my whole life has been filled with bad things happening. It's not like people spread rumors about me and don't believe the truth…_

I bit my lip so I wouldn't actually say anything. That would be bad if I did.

"Do you ever wonder why?" Jellal muttered under his breath.

"Jellal... " I whispered, "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

"Sorry…" he whispered.

"It's fine," I mumbled.

" _She's so stupid!"_ they laughed loudly.

" _She's a liar, too."_ another one agreed.

" _I don't see why she exists."_ I heard _Simon_ say.

"I don't see why I exist either…" I mumbled quietly.

"Other than because of certain choices your parents made..." Jellal sighed, anger slightly showing in his voice, "You exist because not existing _isn't an option._ Things would be worse without you, Erza,"

I pulled my feet onto the seat and rested my chin on my knees, "We're almost at the school... "

"Changing the subject," he pointed out.

I shrugged, "Yeah… I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"S-Sorry," Jellal mumbled, looking away.

"It's fine," I murmured as the bus pulled up to the school, "Let's go so I can turn in my papers."

Jellal nodded, and we quickly woke Meredy up as we noticed she was snoring. We headed down the hall to our lockers, ignoring all the assholes we passed. It wasn't long before we were at Minerva's.

"Hello!" she greeted us, "Welcome back."

"Hi," I forced a smile as Jellal and I walked to our usual seats. I quickly grabbed my papers and handed them to Minerva.

"Oh, thanks!" she nodded, "I'll grade these soon."

"Okay," I nodded, heading back to my spot.

" _Oh, look it's tha-"_

" _Detention!"_ Minerva turned to the person who stood at the door, " _Detention!_ "

"O-Okay then…" they looked bewildered as they accepted the pink slip.

 _Uh… Okay…?_

I raised an eyebrow but shook my head. There was no questioning Minerva's decisions.

"Why?" they asked.

" _Because I said so!"_ she glared at them, "-and because if I can't suspend _everyone_ in this school, I'll still try to do _something_ to reduce the amount of idiots here."

That's why you don't question Minerva.

I sighed and stared at the clock, waiting for class to start. It seemed to take _forever_. Before class started, I had to deal with some more bullying when Minerva left the room for a bit.

"Hey, _she's_ back!" someone chuckled, "How _great…_ "

I bit my lip to keep myself from responding. If I responded, I would likely make things worse. Jellal sighed but didn't say anything back to them as he clenched his fist.

"Did you hear about what happened on Friday?" they asked their friend.

"Yeah," they rolled their eyes, "Everyone has. It was great."

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. I was not going to let myself reply. Especially now because I'd probably end up crying. I felt Jellal grab my hand.

"I can't believe she somehow made _friends_ ," one added.

"They _must_ be pretending," someone agreed, "That's the only possibility."

I flinched; there was a small part of me that believed them. However, if that was true, then why would Meredy and Jellal help me?

I felt Jellal tense up next to me, most likely in anger. He stayed quiet though.

"Okay class!" I opened my eyes to see Minerva come into the room, "Take your seats!"

I sighed in relief as class started.

The rest of the day was pure hell. After all, Minerva was the only teacher of mine that actually did something about the bullying. My other teachers just sort of told them to be nice. Well, in English the teacher _ignored them_ , but most stayed quiet anyways.

After school - while I was at my locker - Simon decided to stop by.

 _Great…_

I noticed Simon out of my peripheral vision. He didn't say anything until I shut my locker though.

"Hey Scarlet," Simon smirked.

"W-What do y-you want?" I replied shakily.

"What have I always wanted?" he retorted.

"You already got what you wanted…" I mumbled quietly, taking a step back. He stepped forwards slightly.

"Go away Simon," I turned to see Meredy behind me, "You have better places to be,"

"This is exactly why I hate you, Meredy," he grumbled, "I don't even see why you're friends with this bitch."

"Well, I don't see why you are a persistent asshole, so I guess we're even," Meredy shrugged, "Also, I'm friends with her because I have no reason _not_ to be friends with her. She's a nice, responsible individual…"

I opened my mouth to say something, but Simon spoke first.

He laughed, "Yeah, she's only responsible because of her father. If he didn't beat her, she'd be the most irresponsible slut you've ever met. As for her being nice… Well yeah, she's nice. Perhaps a little too nice for her own good."

"You can't say what somebody _would_ be like…" Meredy rolled her eyes, "Not to mention she _isn't_ a slut…"

Simon ignored what she said and turned away, muttering, "I'll see you around, Erza."

I leaned against my locker as I tried to calm myself down and stop the ringing in my ears.

"Are you okay, Erza?" Meredy asked me, "He didn't touch you, right?"

Nodding, I mumbled, "I'm okay… Just startled."

"What happened?" I heard Jellal ask, coming down the empty hallway.

"Simon scared Erza," Meredy called back, "I argued with him, and he left, that's all."

I quickly ran to Jellal and hugged him tightly.

"Hey, it's okay," Jellal hugged me back, "Let's go home, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded.

We left the school with Meredy close behind us. Jellal and I had to walk home since Mary had work. Meredy ditched us as we turned down the street Jellal lived on. She assumed correctly that we were planning on cuddling when we got home.

"Don't cuddle too long!" she laughed.

"Just until dinner," I muttered, stifling a laugh and holding Jellal's hand.

When we got to Jellal's house, we set our backpacks down next to the door. We quickly walked over to the couch and laid down next to each other. Jellal wrapped his arms around me and closed his eyes. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

Once I was certain he was asleep, I lightly kissed his cheek and whispered, "I love you…"

 **Again, not much to say. XD Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! Have a good day/night!**


	17. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, I'm alive! I am so so sorry about not updating anything in the past few months! I haven't had a computer, but I finally got my school computer, so I'll be more active. Well, here's the chapter that you've all waited forever for!**

 _I sat in my room, listening to my parents shouting at each other. Tears rolled out of my eyes as I silently wished for them to be quieter. I knew all too well that they wouldn't though. Father was drunk, and he always yelled when he was drunk._

 _Suddenly, I heard a loud crashing sound followed by glass shattering, causing me to flinch. Although it was stupid of me, I got up and went to see what was going on. I silently crept out of my room and to the kitchen._

 _There was broken glass on the floor and mother was holding her face. She had blood dripping down her cheek. When she saw me, her eyes widened._

" _Erza, go back upstairs," she ordered._

" _But mom… You're hurt," I complained._

" _Shut up, you brat!" my father yelled, throwing something at me. I screamed when it hit me. He had thrown a beer bottle at me, and it shattered against my shoulder._

I flinched, kicking Jellal in the process. At least I didn't scream like I would've if it had been a dream about Simon.

"Hey…" Jellal groaned, waking up. He moved slightly so he could be more comfortable and not falling off of the couch.

"Sorry," I murmured, deciding it would be best not to tell him I had a bad dream.

"It's alright…" he mumbled, inching closer to me, "What happened?"

I shook my head, "It's nothing. I just randomly flinched."

"Oh, okay…" he yawned.

"Go back to sleep…" I mumbled sleepily.

"Okay," he nodded, moving slightly to get more comfortable. It wasn't long before I heard him lightly snoring. I giggled and closed my eyes.

I woke up to someone lightly shaking my arm. Opening my eyes, I saw Mary smiling at me.

"Dinner's ready," she announced, stepping back slightly.

I nodded and realized that once again, I couldn't move very much; Jellal was once again wrapped around me.

Smiling to myself, I murmured, "Jellal, time for dinner."

"Food…?" he mumbled, letting go of me slightly.

I nodded and started to sit up. Although I really didn't want to get up; I was too comfortable. Yawning, I stretched as I stood up. I walked out to the kitchen with Jellal close behind me.

"Noodles? Yum," Jellal mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he took a seat.

"Yep!" Mary smiled, "Butter noodles, french bread, and sauce."

Smiling, I sat down next to Jellal and yawned once more. Mary set down plates of food in front of us, and I began to eat.

"How was school?" Mary asked us.

 _Terrible._

"It was alright," I shrugged, refusing to look up.

"Not that great of a day, huh?" Mary sighed.

"Yeah…" I mumbled quietly, "School was awful…"

"Do you have a lot of homework?" she asked, taking a seat nearby with her own food.

"No," I shook my head, "I only have some for Economics and Science."

After dinner, Jellal and I went up to his room and started our homework.

"Jellal?" I mumbled quietly as I pulled out my Science homework, "You're not just pretending to care about me, are you?"

"O-Of course not," Jellal looked to me in surprise. "I _do_ care about you, Erza. I promise."

"I'm sorry," I whispered, "I guess it's just really hard for me to believe someone cares…"

"It's okay," he smiled, "I can understand that. However, I _do_ care about you Erza, and I always will. I promise. Okay?"

I nodded, "O-Okay… S-Sorry…"

"You don't need to apologize…" Jellal sighed.

"Right… Uh… S-" I cut myself off, "Right…"

Jellal chuckled slightly, "You also don't need to apologize for apologizing…"

"So- Err… It's a habit," I responded, shaking my head. I was about to apologize for apologizing _again_.

Jellal just chuckled, shaking his head slightly. We continued to work on our homework for a while. It was annoying, long, and repetitive.

I didn't get to finish all my homework; I made the mistake of laying down on Jellal's bed while I was taking a break. Within a few minutes of laying down, I fell asleep.

 _Jellal and I were walking to school holding hands. Although we were on our way to school, I couldn't help but smile because I was with Jellal. We had decided that we didn't want to take the bus because the bullying would probably make me cry._

" _Hey Erza," Jellal suddenly mumbled._

 _I looked at him curiously, "Hm?"_

 _He looked a bit hesitant and took a deep breath, mumbling quietly, "Um… I… I love you…"_

 _I stopped walking and stared at him in surprise, "You do?"_

 _He nodded and smiled. His smile looked forced though, and I could tell he looked worried._

 _I kissed him then whispered, "I love you too…"_

When I woke up, Jellal wasn't in the room. However, I did have a blanket over me - which I didn't when I fell asleep. Yawning, I sat up and stretched. I glanced at the clock beside Jellal's bed; it was just past midnight.

 _Jellal probably went downstairs to sleep…_

Sighing, I got out of bed and went downstairs; sure enough, Jellal was asleep on the couch. I chuckled and walked over to him. Yawning once more, I sat down on the ground beside the couch. I laid my head down next to his and held his hand.

"You can come up here…" Jellal mumbled sleepily.

I smiled and pulled myself onto the couch. Jellal scooted over so I'd have more room, and he put his arm around me, pulling me closer to him.

I woke to Mary shaking my arm. I wasn't sure when exactly I'd fallen asleep, but once again I was unable to move as Jellal hugged me. He was snoring softly.

"Time for school," Mary whispered.

"Oh…" I yawned, "Okay."

"Jellal," I mumbled, "School…"

 _Like that'll get him to get up right away…_

Jellal mumbled something I didn't quite understand, and he pulled me ever so slightly closer to him.

I smiled, "Well, I'm fine with this… However, I think Mary would prefer us going to school…"

"I would," Mary sighed from behind me.

"No…" Jellal mumbled, shaking his head slightly, "Go away…"

"Jellal," I tried again, "Time to get up."

Jellal once again shook his head as he ever so slightly let go of me in order to curl into a ball. He mumbled something that didn't quite make sense and shook his head one more.

"Jellal?" Mary shook him slightly, concern lining her voice. Jellal flinched at the touch, but otherwise didn't move.

"Jellal," I pulled away from him and got off the couch. I shook his arm, but he only flinched.

Frowning, I held his hand, "Jellal…"

 _You're scaring me…_

" _No..."_ he mumbled. He was trembling slightly.

"Jellal," I shook his arm once more, "It's time to wake up…"

He flinched slightly and mumbled once more, " _Erza…_ "

 _What is he dreaming about?_

I shook his arm again, this time with a little more force, "Wake up, sleepyhead. I promised I'd make breakfast, but I can't do that until I know you're okay."

"Erza…" he mumbled again, "I…"

I hugged him and murmured, "Jellal, wake up dammit."

Jellal went still for a moment before mumbling, blinking slightly, "Erza?"

I sighed in relief and whispered, "Good morning…"

"No," he shook his head, closing his eyes tightly, "Bad morning. School morning."

I shook my head and argued, "No, good morning. I'm next to you. _Good_ morning."

"Morning," Jellal decided, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Fine," I sighed, "I guess I can't necessarily call it a good morning since I'm not cuddling with you."

"Yeah," Jellal nodded.

Mary sighed, chuckling, "You two _do_ have school today, too. Go on. Get ready. I don't work today, so I'll just be in my room."

"Okay," I nodded. I still hadn't let go of Jellal, and I didn't want to either. I heard Mary walk away and go upstairs.

"Erza?" Jellal questioned, opening his eyes once more as I still hadn't let go of him.

"S-Sorry," I mumbled, pulling away from him.

"No. No sorry's." Jellal insisted.

"Right… Uh… Let's get ready for school," I mumbled. I stood up and went to grab some clothes while Jellal went to his room.

After I got ready - which only took a few minutes - I went into the kitchen and started to make some pancakes. Jellal came down shortly after, still looking tired.

"Yum, pancakes!" he smiled.

I forced a smile and put some pancakes on a plate as he sat down in his usual spot. After I gave him his pancakes, I put some on a plate for myself and sat down next to him.

"Sleep well?" he asked, biting into a pancake.

"Yeah," I nodded, " _Did you?_ "

"Er…" Jellal looked away, "I've had better…"

"You were talking in your sleep…" I mumbled.

"I was?" Jellal raised an eyebrow, "Oh…"

I nodded, "You were."

"Err… Sorry…" Jellal mumbled, "I hope I didn't say anything too strange. Did I? I mean, it wasn't _that_ bad of a dream…"

"No," I shook my head, "But it was hard to wake you up…"

"Oh, sorry…" Jellal mumbled, "Didn't mean to cause you any trouble…"

"It's fine," I murmured, "You just startled me, that's all."

"Sorry," he apologized once more.

"It's alright," I responded and started eating my pancakes.

When we finished breakfast, Jellal picked up the mess I made, and we ran to catch the bus. Meredy sat towards the front of the bus, waiting for us.

"Hello!" she greeted us.

"Hi," I mumbled.

"Ready for another day of hell?" Meredy asked in mock cheerfulness.

"Yup! Definitely!" I replied sarcastically, "What could be better than this?"

I leaned against Jellal, yawning. I heard Jellal hold back a yawn, too. It wasn't long before he failed, letting out a rather large yawn. He awkwardly looked away.

"Tired much?" Meredy chuckled.

I nodded, "Because we just _had_ to go to school. We couldn't sleep any longer…"

 _I couldn't cuddle with Jellal longer…_

"Sucks to be you?" Meredy tried, chuckling.

"Mhm," I nodded once more, holding Jellal's hand. I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye. Smiling, I rested my head on his shoulder.

School was the same as it always was. We were free of bullying in Science, but as soon as class ended, we were screwed. Economics was worse than usual though. The rumors were unbearable.

When school ended, I walked to my locker close to tears.

"Hey, Erza." I stopped in my tracks. _He_ was here again?

"Go away," I whispered shakily.

"Um, no." he chuckled, "I don't think so."

"Why not?" I mumbled, trying not to let my fear show too much, "You've already got what you wanted and destroyed me…"

"-and now I want it again." he concluded.

I shook my head, "N-No… L-Leave me a-alone…"

"That's no fun…" he sighed, smiling as he stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. I flinched and tried to take a step back.

"I-I don't c-care… G-Go away…" I stammered as I began to tremble.

"Oh yes, _now_ I'll stop," he rolled his eyes as he pushed me back against the lockers, pinning me with one hand, "Come on Erza… Just like old times..."

"No…" I whimpered, "Leave me alone…"

"Umm… No." Simon smiled, placing his other hand on my waist, causing me to flinch.

"Umm, yes." Meredy sounded from behind him, "You will _not_ touch her."

"God dammit, Meredy," he turned to glare at her. I quickly took that chance to move away from him. Simon moved towards me slightly, grabbing my arm to stop me from running.

"Go home, Meredy," Simon told her, "You don't want to be part of this."

"Actually, I do," she sighed, shaking her head, "I'm going to help my friend. Even if I can't beat the shit out of you like Jellal would, I certainly will do _something._ "

"What, wait until he gets here?" Simon chuckled, gripping my arm tighter.

"No, he has detention anyways," Meredy rolled her eyes, "Plus, why would I go _home_? I'm not fucking stupid enough to ditch my friend in a time like this, just to wait at home until-"

Meredy sighed, cutting herself off, " _Just let her go."_

 _Wait… What was she about to say…?_

 _Never mind that… That's not the problem._ He _is._

I tried to pull away from him, but his grip tightened even more.

"What could you do to _make me?_ " he challenged, "Call the police?"

"No, of course not!" Meredy sighed, "My god, I'll just _call_ _your fucking parents, Simon._ "

"What? Meredy…?" I questioned, still trying to free myself from Simons grip - which seemed to be tightening as he got angrier. Actually, the spot he was holding was starting to go numb which was never good.

"No, you won't," Simon nearly growled, glaring at Meredy as she took out her phone.

"Actually I will, no matter what you do," Meredy smiled, taking a step back to avoid being hit, "Do you want Erza here to hear that conversation or not?"

Simon shoved me away from him - causing me to hit the lockers - and grumbled, "Fuck you, Meredy."

"Umm, no." Meredy sighed, only a hint of humor in her voice, "Mary's in the parking lot, Erza. I'll meet you there soon."

I nodded and quickly walked away as tears formed in my eye. Wiping away my tears, I left the school and practically ran to Mary's van. Once I was inside the van, I started to cry.

"Hey, what happened?" Mary turned to me, "Meredy called me and told me that Jellal was in detention and also that it might be a moment before you got there, but…"

I shook my head and whispered, "I don't want to talk about it…"

"Okay, that's fine," Mary smiled, "Oh, Meredy's on her way here…"

Moments later the door to the van opened and Meredy sat down next to me. She grabbed my hand lightly.

"You okay?" she asked softly.

I shook my head once more, "No…"

"That's understandable," Meredy nodded, "On the bright side, he won't be at school the next couple of days. So there's that, at least."

"Good," I mumbled, pulling my feet onto the seat and hiding my face behind my knees.

"I'll pick Jellal up at five," Mary added, "For now you two can talk at home. That sound good?"

I nodded and murmured, "Yeah…"

It wasn't long before we were home. Meredy and I went inside and sat in the living room. Well, I actually curled into a ball on the couch and cried some more while Meredy tried to comfort me. It was fairly fruitless on her part.

"Jellal will be here soon," Meredy sighed, "Yes, it's already been that long."

I nodded to show that I heard her, but I didn't say anything. Meredy just sat down in silence, apparently deciding just to wait until I was no longer curled up into a ball.

Soon, Jellal entered the house with Mary close behind him.

"Erza?" Jellal ran towards me, "Hey, are you okay?"

I immediately got up and hugged him.

"I'm fine…" I quietly lied.

"Liar," he sighed, hugging me back, "You really are a bad liar…"

I nodded in agreement, "Sorry…"

 _Sorry I'm so pathetic. Sorry I'm so weak. Sorry I cry so much. Sorry I say 'sorry' a lot. Sorry I can't stand up for myself._

The words remained unspoken though. I just simply left it at 'sorry'.

" _Really, Erza…_ " Jellal sighed, chuckling slightly, "Anyways, do you want to talk about it?

I shook my head and mumbled, "No… Nope. Nope. No."

"Okay, sorry." he hugged me tighter, "Are you hurt?"

"No, just startled," I whispered.

Startled would be an understatement.

"Okay, good." he nodded, "Want to sit down?"

I nodded, and we sat down on the couch. It was kind of difficult to sit since I refused to let go of Jellal. Eventually Jellal moved so that I sitting on his lap as he hugged me.

"Dinner would be very weird…" Meredy mumbled.

"Shush…" I murmured quietly, closing my eyes.

"Shush." Jellal agreed.

I smiled and shifted a bit, making myself comfortable, letting myself fall asleep.

I woke up screaming about an hour later due to a dream with Simon in it.

"Erza!" Jellal pulled me into a tight hug, "It's okay, it was just a dream…"

"B-But it wasn't…" I whimpered shakily.

"Yes it-" Jellal cut himself off, correcting himself, "It's nothing you have to worry about right now."

I wrapped my arms around him and bit my lip to keep myself from crying; I didn't even bother to respond.

 **And cliffhanger!**

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 **Just kidding, I'm not** ** _that_** **mean. I will be posting two more chapters today - probably really soon. Again, really sorry about being inactive. Thank you for sticking with me.**

 **Anyways, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter!**


	18. Chapter 16

**Again, I'm back! And again, I'm really sorry about being inactive! Here is another chapter as promised.**

"Jellal…" I whispered when I was finally able to calm myself down enough, "Why do you care about me? I'm worthless…"

"You are anything but worthless," Jellal mumbled, still hugging me, "That's why. I care about you because you deserve it. I care about you because you care about me. Most of all I care about you, because you're… you."

I started to cry again, "How could you care about someone who can't even protect herself…? Instead, I have to rely on you and Meredy to help me…"

"On the contrary, how should your ability to be reasonably - or even unreasonably - affected by your past matter? I would care about you either way." Jellal decided.

I sniffled and wiped away my tears. Hugging Jellal even tighter, I whispered, "I'm sorry… It's just… The last time someone said they cared… They didn't. At all."

"Once again, there's nothing to be sorry for," Jellal whispered, "And I understand. Although I can't even begin to wrap my head around what hell you've gone through, I understand your concerns, Erza."

"Jellal," I mumbled quietly - my voice muffled against his shoulder.

Speaking even quieter - to the point whereas I could barely hear myself - I added, "I love you…"

 _Why did I just say that out loud…?_

"Hm?" he questioned, having only slightly heard me, "What'd you say?"

I shook my head, "I-It's nothing…"

Frowning, I hesitated before adding, "Well, not nothing… But it's not important right now…"

 _It's definitely not nothing. It's the most important thing to me._

"Oh," Jellal mumbled, disappointment clear in his voice as he frowned, "Okay."

 _Wait... Did he actually hear me?_

I pulled away from him and looked him in the eyes.

 _Well… Here goes nothing…_

Without giving myself time to decide against it, I kissed him.

For a moment Jellal paused before he must've realized what was going on and kissed me back. Wrapping my arms around him once more, I trembled slightly out of fear of rejection. What if he didn't like me?

I pulled away from him once more and murmured quietly, "I love you…"

Before he could respond, Mary's voice sounded from the kitchen, "Time for dinner!"

I flinched, "Uh… O-Okay…"

 _I probably wouldn't've done that if I had remembered Mary would be able to see us from the kitchen..._

"I-I love you too, Erza," Jellal mumbled as we walked to the kitchen, his voice barely louder than a whisper. He was smiling - blushing even.

I froze for a moment then smiled and quickly went to my usual spot.

"Okay, I'm sorry to invade in your moment," Mary sighed, "but Jellal… There is no way you are _not_ telling Meredy about this. She might kill you if you don't tell her."

" _Mom..._ " Jellal sighed, sitting down.

 _So_ that's _what they were always talking about..._

 _Well, Mary's not wrong… And I'm sure we'll have to tell Ultear as well if Meredy doesn't._

"You should," Mary sighed, "Anyways, eat your food. I made steak and mashed potatoes!"

I quickly started eating; after all, Mary made amazing steak.

"We still have homework to do," I mumbled as I finished my mashed potatoes, "And I may or may not have late work in Economics…"

"Erza…" Jellal sighed, "Late work?"

"Well… Your bed is too comfortable," I responded, "I at least had half of it done. Then I fell asleep…"

"Oh, Erza…" Jellal sighed once more.

I smiled, "Whoops?"

Later that night - after we finished our homework - I went downstairs and laid down on the couch. I curled into a ball under the blanket and wrapped my arms around myself.

 _Why is it so cold in here...?_

After a while of trying to warm up, I went back up to Jellal's room. I walked over to his bed and poked his arm.

"Jellal... You awake?" I whispered.

"Hm?"Jellal turned around to look at me, "What is it?"

"I'm cold..." I mumbled.

"Oh," Jellal mumbled, sitting up straight and rubbing his eyes, "Do you want to steal the bed, then?"

"I-If that's okay with you..." I awkwardly looked down.

"Yeah, that's fine," Jellal nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed, "I'll make sure the heater's on too,"

I nodded, yawning, "Okay... Thanks."

I laid down on Jellal's bed as he got up to leave. Curling into a ball once more, I mumbled, "Goodnight..."

"Goodnight, Erza," Jellal called back.

I woke up to someone shaking my arm - most likely Mary.

Yawning, I rolled over and mumbled, "What time is it...?"

"Half past five," she smiled, "I have to leave for work now. Wake Jellal up at six as usual please."

"Okay," I responded sleepily, "Be safe. See you later."

"See you later!" she smiled as she left, "And I will!"

Sighing, I sat up and waited until Mary left before I started getting ready for school. By the time I was done getting ready, it was six.

I walked over to Jellal and sat down on the edge of the couch. Poking his arm, I murmured, "Jellal, it's time to get up."

"No." Jellal shook his head, "No school."

I poked him again, "Sorry, but you have to go to school since I have to."

"So then you don't go to school, too," he suggested, "Problem solved."

"Okay, I wouldn't mind but... Are you forgetting that Mary would?" I smiled.

"We both fell sick with a terrible disease?" he chuckled, sitting up, "Fine, I'll get ready..."

"Okay," I smiled once more, "Hurry up or you won't get breakfast."

"Got it!" Jellal chuckled once more before getting up and heading to his room.

Sighing, I walked over to the kitchen and began to make breakfast. I made scrambled eggs because it was one of the quickest things to make. Jellal came downstairs a little after I finished making breakfast.

I smiled upon seeing him, "Good morning."

"Bad morning," Jellal smiled back before looking at the counter, "Nevermind. Good morning. You made eggs."

I chuckled, "Yup! If you don't eat your eggs soon, they're going to get cold."

"I know, I know…" Jellal chuckled, sitting down by his plate. Sitting down next to Jellal, I started to eat my eggs.

When we finished, Jellal took care of the mess as usual.

"This is most likely going to sound strange and random - especially if it was just a dream - but…" I hesitated, "We kissed last night, right?"

 _I_ really _hope that wasn't just a dream…_

"Yep," Jellal chuckled, smiling, "Don't worry, that wasn't a dream. However, I _did_ text Meredy, so prepare for the bus ride…"

"Good. I'm glad that wasn't a dream," I smiled, looking down to hide that I was blushing.

"Me too," Jellal smiled, "Anyways, let's go. We don't want to miss the bus… Well, we _shouldn't_."

"Right…" I chuckled, "Let's go then."

We put on our shoes and grabbed our backpacks, and we ran out to the bus stop. Although we probably didn't have to run - we had a few minutes to spare when we got there.

As usual, Meredy was sitting towards the front of the bus waiting for us. She smiled when she saw us. She was practically bouncing in her seat. I heard Jellal sigh from behind me.

"I can pick on both of you now!" Meredy cheered, "Also, _told you so, Jellal!"_

"Shush," Jellal chuckled, smiling as he sat down next to me.

Chuckling, I leaned against Jellal and held his hand, "I can't believe I didn't notice that that's what you two always talked about."

"That'd be thanks to Jellal…" Meredy grumbled, chuckling. Jellal simply rolled his eyes in return.

"Weren't you there when he spammed the chat and got kicked from the chatroom?" Meredy asked.

"Yeah... He didn't really respond when I questioned him, so I fell asleep instead," I shrugged.

"Thank you for being oblivious," Jellal chuckled, "Thank you."

"Hey!" I lightly elbowed his stomach, "So I was a little oblivious..."

I hesitated before correcting myself, "Very oblivious... But could you blame me? I was sitting next to you after all... I got a little distracted."

Jellal failed to hide his blushing as he turned away, causing Meredy to laugh. I smiled and pulled my feet onto the seat so my knees were tucked against my chest.

Resting my head on Jellal's shoulder, I murmured, "I really wish we could've stayed home today..."

"Blame my mom," Jellal sighed.

"Hey!" Meredy complained, crossing her arms, "If I have to be here, you two do too."

I giggled, "Okay... I guess. Anyways... We're here now."

We got off the bus, and Jellal and I went to our lockers before quickly going to Science. Like usual, it was fairly quiet as nobody was there yet. I suppose we were lucky the buses got to the school earlier than needed. Minerva was at her desk doing paperwork and she greeted us as we entered the classroom.

"Hello," she smiled, "Did you two get your homework done?"

"Yep!" Jellal smiled.

I nodded in agreement as we sat down at our usual table. Yawning, I folded my arms on the table and laid my head down on them.

"Tired much?" Jellal chuckled.

"Yup," I mumbled, "I don't know why; I got plenty of sleep."

Jellal's smile quickly turned into a frown, "Hopefully you aren't getting sick. I mean you did get what could be considered a cold flash last night. I mean, it wasn't _that_ cold downstairs so…"

I shrugged and murmured, "I'm sure it's nothing. I'll be back to normal tomorrow."

"Hopefully," Jellal nodded, smiling once more, although not as much as before.

I hugged him, "I'll be fine; don't worry about it."

"If you say so…" Jellal sighed, hugging me back. We quickly separated as we heard others walking down the hall as it got closer to class starting. Minerva looked pissed off with the noise the group was making; she glared at them as they walked into the classroom.

"Be. Quiet." she told them, raising the rather large book in her hand, "I'm trying to _read_."

"Sorry?" one tried. They did quiet down luckily as they resorted to whispering amongst each other at one of the other tables. I saw occasional glances our way, but they didn't try to start anything. Most likely out of fear of what Minerva would do to them if they dare raised their voices.

I awkwardly picked at my fingernails while waiting for class to start. Soon enough, the bell rang and class started. Minerva was lecturing on about how sound works. She occasionally mentioned how loud some high schoolers were, or how it can be hard to concentrate when it's loud, making it harder to read.

I was getting fairly bored with taking notes when a high pitch ringing sounded in my ears, causing me to flinch and almost hit Jellal.

"In November?" Jellal mumbled as we stood up and joined the crowd.

We went across the street with everyone else and waited while Minerva took attendance. I held Jellal's hand when I heard sirens. Sirens meant _he_ might show up.

"I doubt it," Jellal mumbled as if reading my mind. He squeezed my hand slightly.

"Still..." I mumbled quietly, "I really don't want to see any of those assholes..."

"I doubt they'll even come over here…" Jellal sighed, not really sounding sure.

"I don't care," I shook my head, "Just seeing them is enough to give me bad memories..."

Jellal nodded, not really having much to say in response as we listened to Minerva yell at someone for wandering away from the group. It was a nice distraction at least.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a group of cops spread out, heading to different groups. _He_ didn't seem to be there, but another cop that I didn't recognize did come our way.

 _At least I don't recognize him... That should be better, right?_

Wrong. I still got the memories flashing through my mind, and they were just as bad.

I started to feel dizzy, and I had to hold onto Jellal's arm to keep myself from falling over. Not to mention that I was also hyperventilating. At some point Jellal slowly started guiding me away from the group and into the nearby forest that surrounded the school. I tripped a few times upon entering, and it seemed like forever before we stopped. We actually seemed to go pretty far in, as when I finally looked up, I could no longer see the school.

"You okay?" Jellal asked as he helped me sit down on an old fallen log.

"I-I'm fi-" I almost lied but shook my head, "N-No... I'm not o-okay."

I wiped away the tears that were starting to form. Jellal quickly pulled me into a tight hug.

"That's okay, Erza. You don't need to be 'fine' all the time. You just need to be you. Take your time to calm down. We can go to my place if you'd like." he mumbled, "That being said, you better not apologize, okay?"

"R-Right... Uh... C-Could we g-go to your house?" I murmured, hugging him back, "S-Sor- Never mind..."

"We can," Jellal nodded, "I'm fine with it."

"A-Are you sure?" I asked as he helped me up.

"Yes." Jellal nodded, "I wouldn't've suggested it otherwise,"

"O-Okay," I mumbled as we started to walk back to Jellal's house. We had to cut through the forest, but that was unavoidable. When we finally got to the other side, we were almost at Jellal's house already.

"I'll text Mom, so the school doesn't freak her out when they say we aren't there." Jellal decided.

I nodded, "Okay."

We walked in silence the rest of the way. It wasn't long until we were back at Jellal's house. Jellal had me sit down on the couch while he got me some Pepsi. He then sat down next to me, a cup of his own in his hand while he handed me mine.

"How are you?" he quietly asked.

"I've been better," I murmured, taking a sip of Pepsi.

"How are you _feeling_?" he asked, "Still tired?"

I shrugged, "Not as tired as before, but yeah, I'm still fairly tired."

"Wanna take a nap then?" he suggested, "You could steal my bed, if you'd like."

I shook my head, "I don't want to sleep right now. I know I'll have a bad dream if I sleep now…"

"Ah, okay," Jellal nodded, "Does that mean cuddling is out of the question…?"

"Hm? Oh, cuddling definitely _isn't_ out of the question," I chuckled, "I likely won't have a bad dream if I fall asleep cuddling with you."

"Well then…" Jellal took a large gulp of pepsi, finishing his cup before laying on the couch. I set my cup down and laid down next to him, and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him. Smiling, I shifted slightly to get comfortable.

Jellal moved slightly, resting his chin on my shoulder so he could whisper.

"I love you, Erza," he whispered.

I smiled and murmured, "I love you too, Jellal."

I kissed his cheek then shifted so I was closer to him - I'm not sure if it was possible, but I tried. He hugged me ever so slightly tighter, keeping his head on my shoulder.

"Thank you, Jellal," I mumbled quietly, "For everything. You made me happy, and I know it's easy to believe that this is the happiest I've been."

"And thank you." Jellal mumbled sleepily, "Thank you for being Erza. Thank you for being there for me and loving me and-"

He cut himself off with a yawn, mumbling incoherently, and he stopped.

"Hm?" I mumbled sleepily, yawning right after.

"Love you," he finished, "That's all,"

"Love you too," I whispered, closing my eyes as I slightly shifted into a more comfortable position. It wasn't long before I heard Jellal snoring softly.

Not long after Jellal fell asleep, I fell asleep as well. I was hoping it would be one of those times I didn't have a bad dream, but I hoped a little too much. It wasn't too bad of a dream though, so that was good.

" _What happened to your face?" Simon asked, not even trying to conceal his look of disgust._

" _I-It was j-just my cat…" I mumbled, looking down to hide my face._

" _Would you quit stuttering already?" he grumbled angrily._

" _S-Sorry," I whispered._

" _Seriously?" I looked up to see him roll his eyes, "Geez… You're so annoying."_

" _I-I know," I whimpered, trying not to cry, "S-Sorry…"_

 _"Dammit Erza, quit fucking stuttering," Simon seemed to growl as he glared at me. I flinched and tears began to spill from my eyes._

 _He frowned, but his frown looked forced. He wiped away my tears, "Hey, I'm sorry... Don't cry, Erza."_

 _I backed away from him out of instinct, and Simon grabbed my arm to keep me from moving completely away from him. I flinched once more._

 _"Erza..." he started, "Don't be scared. I won't hurt you; you know that. I care about you; I would_ never _hurt you."_

 _"S-Sorry..." I whispered, nodding. I didn't quite believe him, but I didn't want to tell him that. That would be rude._

 _He smiled as I took a step closer to him - hoping he'd let go of my arm._

 _"It's alright," he murmured, "Now will you stop stuttering?"_

 _"I-I c-can't control i-it," I mumbled, and I started to shake slightly as he didn't let go of me._

 _He shoved me to the side, "You've got to be fucking kidding me. Why are you shaking?"_

 _I couldn't respond; instead, I started to cry._

 _Simon groaned in annoyance, "If you're going to be annoying, then just go home."_

 _I froze. Didn't he realize that if father was home from work already, I'd be in a lot of trouble? I'd be going home late, and I wasn't even supposed to be gone in the first place._

 _Despite my fears, I ended up going home. I was too afraid to stay by Simon; I hated it when he yelled at me. He seemed to do that a lot now._

 _Tears poured down my face as I walked home. I was terrified of what could happen when I got home._

 **And now, a cliffhanger!**

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 **Just kidding again. Weird me has to do everything in odd numbers, so lucky you guys, you get three chapters in one day after waiting all summer for me to update.**

 **Anyways, leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter!**


	19. Chapter 17

**Here's your final chapter for the day guys! I promise I'll have the next chapter up by next weekend.**

"Erza!" Jellal shook me slightly, _"Calm down! Please..."_

I opened my eyes to see Jellal looking at me with worry. My eye felt damp, so I assumed I had been crying.

 _Great. Just great…_

I hated making Jellal worry, and he was obviously worried about me since he woke me up. There was no way I'd tell Jellal what my dream was about - just like the other ones I had in the past. If he knew about what happened between Simon and me, he'd likely be able to guess, but I wasn't planning on telling him about that. He didn't need to know.

"Erza..." Jellal pulled me into a hug, "You're safe here. Okay?"

I nodded and hugged him back, "S-Sorry..."

"No," Jellal shook his head, "You can't apologize for your dreams."

I wiped away my tears and mumbled, "But I worried you..."

"I don't care if you worried me," Jellal insisted, "You don't need to apologize."

"O-Okay," I whispered, "What time is it?"

It was best to change the subject. If I stayed on that subject too long, I could end up making the mistake of telling him almost _everything_ about my past. I was _not_ about to let myself do that.

"Half past _I have no idea_ ," Jellal chuckled.

I chuckled, "Got it."

He started to let go of me, but I hugged him tighter and murmured, "Not yet. Please... Just hold me a little longer."

"No need to tell me twice," Jellal hugged me tighter.

I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled. It was nice to feel so _safe_ and _happy_. From the moment I first met Jellal, just being around him made me feel safer. I didn't know why, but I hadn't been afraid to be around him at all; I never even flinched when he hugged me. If anybody else hugged me, I'd freak out. I didn't even like any sort of physical contact with other people.

"Thanks for waking me up," I murmured quietly, kissing his cheek.

I forced a smile and pulled away from him, "Let's make something to eat. I'm hungry."

Jellal nodded smiling, "Maybe we should check the time…"

"Oh yeah…" I mumbled. Jellal took out his phone to check the time, and I awkwardly looked over his shoulder. It was a quarter past noon.

"Well, what do you want to eat?" Jellal asked, putting his phone away, "I'm fine with anything."

"Um… I don't know," I muttered then jokingly added, "Something edible?"

"Really? Darn, I wasn't planning on that…" Jellal chuckled, "Spaghetti?"

I laughed, "Alright, spaghetti it is!"

We walked to the kitchen, and I got the ingredients we needed while Jellal got the pans and spatulas we needed.

"Okay, so I know you said you were a bad cook, but can I trust you with the noodles?" I asked, holding out a box of spaghetti noodles.

"I can manage the noodles," Jellal nodded, "What about sauce?"

"I'll take care of the sauce," I smiled, "My mom taught me most of what I know about cooking when I was younger."

My mom had taught me a lot of cooking when I was younger. She didn't want me to grow up unable to cook. Anytime she made a meal and I wasn't at school, she made sure I was in the kitchen with her so she could show me what she was doing.

"Perfect," Jellal smiled as he started to cook, "Any sides?"

"Um… Chips?" I shrugged, starting to make the sauce.

"With spaghetti?" Jellal questioned, chuckling, "Not what I'd normally do, but that sounds good. We have some somewhere."

I laughed, "Well, I don't feel like making anything else. If you want something else, you better be able to make it."

 _Although even if he didn't know how to make it, I'd probably help him anyways…_

"Nothing else then," Jellal decided, "Perfect,"

"Alright then," I smiled and gave him a quick hug. He hugged me back and then we wordlessly continued cooking.

It took a surprising amount of time to cook, but that could just be because I was hungry. Spaghetti didn't actually take that long to make, compared to other things.

I yawned, "Finally, we get to eat!"

"Tired much?" Jellal chuckled, putting some of the noodles into a bowl.

"Just a little," I smiled as I grabbed some noodles for myself. I put some sauce on my noodles, grabbed a fork, and sat down in my usual spot. As soon as I sat down, I started eating. Jellal sat down next to me, a bag of chips in hand, which he opened and set between our bowls.

We ate in silence. When I finished eating and stood up to bring my bowl to the sink, I felt dizzy, so I sat back down.

"You okay?" Jellal asked, putting his bowl away.

"Ye-" I started to lie but shook my head and got up, heading to the bathroom. Since I easily got sick - especially from eating too fast which has happened many times in the past - I sure as hell knew I was about to throw up.

Soon after I got into the bathroom, I threw up.

 _At least I made it to the toilet… I would've felt bad had I made a mess._

"Erza?" I heard Jellal behind me somewhere, "I-I'll go get you some medicine… Okay?"

"Mhm," I nodded, wiping off my mouth. It wasn't long before Jellal came back with a bottle of chewable tablets called 'Tums'. He handed me two.

"I didn't _mean to_ poison the food…" Jellal chuckled, "I mean, I know I'm not that good of a cook, but…"

I was tempted to apologize, but I knew Jellal wouldn't like it if I did. The only reason I wanted to apologize was because whenever I got sick while living with my father, I would always get yelled at.

Rather than apologizing, I laughed, "Well, I know not to let you cook again."

"Guess so," Jellal chuckled, "Anyways, _are you okay?"_

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I nodded.

"Are you _sure_?" Jellal asked once more, "You weren't feeling all that well earlier. You might be falling ill… How do you feel?"

"I feel like I just threw up," I attempted to laugh. To be honest, I didn't feel well at all. It's not like I felt like I would throw up again, but I could tell that I wasn't even near feeling 'fine'.

Jellal sighed, "Really now? Anyways, I'm going to call my mom, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, getting up off the ground. I quickly ate the tablets Jellal gave me while he called Mary.

"Hey mom," Jellal greeted, suddenly sounding slightly more cheerful, "Yeah, let's ignore the fact that we should be in class right now, okay? Anyways, Erza just puked…"

"It's not _that_ bad…" I mumbled quietly.

" _Erza hasn't been feeling well recently_ , so yeah," Jellal gave me a glance as he continued talking.

"Jellal, I'm fine now…" I sighed.

 _Why. Do. I. Keep. Insisting. I'm. Fine?_

 _Fuck…_

I quickly knelt down by the toilet again and threw up once more.

Wiping my mouth again, I looked at Jellal, "So I'm not 'fine' after all…"

Jellal looked to me, concerned. He held up a finger and then went into another room, listening to what Mary was saying. A few moment's later he came back with a rather large bowl in one hand as he put his phone away.

"Let's have you lay down on the couch, okay?" Jellal smiled, "Bowl incase of puking, and you should take some more tablets too."

"Alright," I mumbled.

I hated being sick; it made me feel weak. However, I didn't mind too much since Jellal was taking care of me. If it had been anyone else, I'd probably be a stuttering mess.

Jellal led me to the living room and placed the bowl next to couch while I laid down.

"Just rest," Jellal smiled, "You will probably have to go see a doctor, but at least you don't need to go to school tomorrow."

"Okay," I smiled and curled up into a ball as Jellal put a blanket over me. I felt the end of the couch move as Jellal sat down.

"Jellal," I murmured quietly, "Don't worry, okay? I'll be fine. This happens at least twice a year. It only lasts one to two days."

 _Well… The puking part happens at least twice a year… The rest of it happens quite often. Dizziness, Fatigue, Chills._

"That does not make this _any_ better," Jellal argued, "In fact, that's almost _worse_. What if it's something serious?"

I sighed, "Right…"

 _Forgot that concerns a lot of people…_

"Anyways, get some rest, Erza. It's been a long day," Jellal sighed.

"Okay," I whispered, closing my eyes and shifting slightly so I was comfortable. Sighing, I turned so my head was on the other side of the couch. I rested my head on Jellal's lap and soon fell asleep.

I woke up when Mary got home. Jellal was still where he was when I fell asleep, and I slightly smiled, deciding not to get up. I heard him snoring softly. He must not've heard Mary.

"Hey, Erza," Mary smiled, setting her bag down, "How are you feeling? Need anything?"

"I'm feeling a lot better than before," I smiled.

"That's good," she nodded, "Still worrying though. You were feeling sick before, too?"

"Yeah," I responded, "Not too badly though. I just thought I was really tired or something. But then there was today and... Yeah..."

"Well, if you don't feel better tomorrow, we'll bring you to a doctor," Mary decided, "Tomorrow you'll stay home, and although Jellal _should_ go to school, I have a meeting I can't miss and I'd hate to leave you here alone…"

"Alright, thank you," I smiled, rolling onto my back - careful not to wake Jellal.

"Yep," Mary smiled back before heading into the kitchen, "If you need anything, just ask."

"Okay," I smiled once more. I grabbed Jellal's hand and gently kissed it before rolling back onto my side - pulling his arm over me - and closing my eyes once more. I didn't let go of his hand either.

 _I tightly closed my eyes as I felt someone's hands on my waist. Flinching, I tried pulling away from them - still not willing to open my eyes. I didn't want to see who it was; I could tell it wasn't Simon though - which was what made it even scarier._

 _Suddenly, I felt his lips on mine, and I flinched once more. I only flinched because it felt familiar - as strange as that sounds._

 _Hesitantly, I pulled away and opened my eyes. I was really hoping it wasn't who I thought it was._

 _"J-Jellal?" I whispered shakily._

 _He smiled and kissed me again. I immediately pulled away and shook my head, crouching down on the ground with my knees against my chest and my arms wrapped protectively around myself. I looked around the room I was in; it wasn't familiar. There was a bed in the corner nearest to me and a dresser next to it._

 _Across the room, there was a closet door with a bookshelf next to it. Farther down the wall, there was another door - it likely led out of the room. The walls were painted beige and most of the furniture was dark brown._

 _Suddenly, Jellal grabbed my arm and pulled me back up to my feet. My body began to tremble as he pulled me close to him - putting his hands on my waist once more - and he began to kiss me._

 _No. No. No. No. No! I'm not having this dream. Nope. Nope. Nope._

I flinched awake - taking deep breaths to try to control my breathing as I was close to hyperventilating.

"Erza?" Jellal questioned, "You okay?"

"It was just a dream..." I mumbled, wiping away the tears that formed, "Just a dream."

"Yep," Jellal nodded, pulling me into a hug.

I flinched and pulled away from him, sitting on the opposite end of the couch with my knees tucked against my chest and my arms wrapped around myself. Jellal didn't say anything in return, although he did seem confused. He mumbled an apology, not meeting my eyes.

Ignoring him, I repeatedly whispered to myself, "He won't hurt me..."

 _Dammit... Why am I freaking out...? I_ know _he wouldn't hurt me..._

"You okay?" Jellal whispered.

"Y-Yeah," I nodded, slowly making my way closer to him again, "S-Sorry…"

"No apologizing," Jellal mumbled, "It's okay,"

After managing to calm myself down, I hugged him and mumbled, "Too bad… I'm going to apologize anyways. I freaked out from you _hugging me_ , but I know you won't hurt me. _You_ _aren't him…_ And I hate that I thought - even for a minute - that you would hurt me."

Jellal tightly hugged me back, "Fine. I guess you can apologize…"

"Good," I whispered, "I'm sorry."

"I _suppose_ I accept your apology…" Jellal sighed, half chuckling, "Anyways, it's like seven o'clock. Are you up for dinner or…?"

"Yeah!" I smiled, getting up.

"Well good," Mary called from the kitchen, "Burgers are done!"

I quickly went to the kitchen, not even waiting for Jellal. Mary's burgers were also amazing; it was my second favorite thing to eat - the first being her steak. As I sat down in my usual seat, Mary put a couple plates of food on the table. Jellal quickly sat next to me.

"Burgers, fries, pepsi, and vegetables," Mary listed, "Although you two don't deserve such a meal after skipping school…"

"Oh… Right…" Jellal chuckled, "That… Hey, let's eat!"

I laughed and started eating, deciding it would be best not to say anything. Mary simply rolled her eyes and started eating as well.

"What'd you do today?" Mary asked.

"Slept," Jellal chuckled, "Slept, ate, slept, ate…"

"Don't forget that we _did_ go to school. We just left early," I mumbled.

"Sleep, school, sleep, eat, sleep, eat…" Jellal corrected himself.

Mary chuckled, "I guess you had a busy day, huh?"

"Yup! A very busy day of cuddling with Jellal," I nodded, looking at my plate to hide that I was blushing. Mary and Jellal both chuckled.

 _Why did I put myself in the position to be blushing this much?_

"Speaking of which," Mary chuckled, " _Somebody_ is sick, and it could be _contagious_."

"But- But..." Jellal stuttered, "but..."

"At least I didn't kiss him today," I muttered, "But still... You have a good point, Mary."

"Dammit..." Jellal mumbled quietly to himself as he bit into his burger.

I giggled, "Don't worry, I'll be better soon."

"You better be..." Jellal mumbled, blushing ever so slightly.

I smiled, "I will be. Then we can cuddle again, but for now - since I don't want to risk getting you sick - we won't be able to cuddle, okay?"

"Okay…" Jellal mumbled, causing Mary to chuckle.

Soon after dinner, Jellal made me go back to sleep. I listened to him and laid down on the couch again, but I didn't get why he wanted me to go back to sleep. It was the first time I actually slept a lot when I wasn't feeling well.

"Do I really have to go back to sleep?" I mumbled as Jellal put a blanket over me.

"You'll feel better sooner," Jellal explained.

"Fine…" I sighed, "Could you sit by me until I fall asleep?"

Jellal nodded, smiling as he sat down, "No need to ask twice."

I smiled and held his hand, mumbling, "Thank you…"

Shifting slightly, I closed my eyes. Almost as soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep. Surprisingly - and thankfully - I didn't have any bad dreams. I actually slept peacefully and had _good_ dreams about Jellal.

In the middle of the night, I woke up feeling even worse than before. I quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up. It actually took me a while to stop throwing up.

 _What the hell? I don't normally puke this much…_

"Erza?" I heard Jellal from up the stairs, "You okay?"

"Nope," I muttered just before throwing up once more. It was a moment before Jellal appeared behind me, looking tired and concerned.

"I'll get you something to drink for when you've, uh… stopped…" he mumbled.

I nodded and puked again.

 _Dammit._

It wasn't long before Jellal came back with a cup of water, Tums, and some crackers. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. Before I could say anything to him, I threw up a few more times.

After a long while, I finally stopped. I scooted slightly away from the toilet and leaned against the wall as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Jellal brought the stuff he grabbed over to me.

"Thanks," I mumbled drowsily taking the water and Tums from him. After eating the Tums, I took the crackers from him.

Jellal sat down next to me as I slowly started eating the crackers. I set down my cup of water and held Jellal's hand, leaning my head against his shoulder. He rested his head on mine, and I set the crackers down.

"Yeah, you're going to need to see a doctor…" Jellal mumbled.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"I love you," he mumbled, closing his eyes.

"I love you too," I whispered, closing my eyes.

 **There, you guys get a cute, adorable cliffhangery thing. *sigh***

 **I hope you all enjoyed your three chapters! Again, so sorry about pretty much disappearing off the face of the Earth.**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter(s)!**


	20. Chapter 18

**Hello, I'm back again as promised! Okay, so I got asked about Erza's dreams, and I'd like to answer that person's question, but I'm not sure what dream they were talking about, so I'll just clarify both. I think there was only two… Correct me if I'm wrong.**

 **For this story, the dreams at the end of chapters 15 and 16 were memories for Erza. So I looked back and saw that there were four (one was only mentioned - the one at the end of chapter 15). The one at the very beginning of chapter 15 is also a memory. The second one in chapter 15 is just simply a dream.**

 **Anyways, I'm glad you all like the story so much! Now, enjoy the chapter!**

I woke up to hearing Mary on the phone - it sounded like she was talking to the school. Mumbling a couple of curse words, I shifted slightly so I was comfortable. Jellal was still leaning against me, snoring softly.

Soon Mary stopped talking - she most likely ended the call.

"Didn't you agree to _not_ cuddle?" she sighed, looking over to us.

"Well…" I mumbled, "He came and sat down by me, and I was too tired to move…"

Mary sighed, "Well, I'm heading off to work, but I'll get home early so I can bring you to the doctors. Sound good?"

"Okay," I yawned, "See you later…"

"Hm?" Jellal mumbled as Mary left, "Morning…"

"Good morning," I murmured, "Sorry for keeping you up last night."

"You didn't." Jellal argued, "I fell asleep again."

I sighed, "Yeah… I'm not even going to try to argue."

"Goodnight," Jellal mumbled once more as he rolled over to make himself more comfortable.

I chuckled and shifted into a more comfortable position, "Goodnight."

When I woke up a couple hours later, Jellal was still sound asleep. I poked his cheek a couple of times to wake him up.

"No," he turned and used his arm to hide his face, "Sleep."

I poked him again and murmured, "But I'm hungry…"

"Fine…" he mumbled, getting up, "You should have soup or something; you're sick."

"Okay," I sighed, getting up as well.

We walked out to the kitchen and started making some chicken noodle soup. I decided to have Jellal cut the vegetables while I did everything else - although he did complain. I won that argument though.

"You're sick," Jellal mumbled, "You should be _resting_ …"

I shook my head, "I'm well enough to cook."

"You've puked countless times in the past twenty-four hours," Jellal said dryly, "I have to disagree."

"Okay, I see your point; I did puke more than I normally would too. However, I'm feeling fine now," I mumbled.

"Liar," Jellal mumbled as he cut the vegetables.

"Not lying," I muttered, cutting the chicken. I was definitely lying; I'd feel bad if I was just resting while he cooked though.

"Still lying," Jellal sighed.

"Still not lying," I mumbled.

We finished cooking in silence. As soon as the soup was done, I grabbed a bowl for me and a bowl for Jellal then sat down in my usual seat. Jellal sat down next to me and we started eating in silence.

"How do you honestly feel?" Jellal asked after quite some time, " _Honestly_."

I sighed, "Honestly… I feel like shit."

Jellal let out a long sigh, nodding, "Want some medicine?"

I nodded, "Yes please."

Jellal took another sip of his soup before he brought over some medicine. He sat back down, quickly taking another bit of soup.

"Great soup," he chuckled.

"Thanks," I smiled, softly chuckling. I took the medicine that Jellal had brought over, and right away after, I took a sip of my soup.

"I forgot some medicine tastes absolutely disgusting," I muttered.

Jellal chuckled as he agreed, "Worst taste in the world,"

"Yup," I nodded, chuckling as well. We finished our soup in silence, not that that took a very long time. Jellal started cleaning up, putting the leftovers away.

"Want anymore?" he asked.

"No," I shook my head, "If I have anymore, I might throw up again."

Jellal nodded and continued putting away the food before moving onto the counters. Luckily there really wasn't much to do. I was tempted to help him anyways, but I decided against it as I realized he probably wouldn't let me. Instead, I simply finished the last of my soup and put the bowl into the dishwasher.

"I emailed our teachers last night, and we actually don't have that much homework to do." Jellal informed me, "I can print off the few sheets later,"

I nodded, "Thank you."

"No problem," Jellal smiled as he finished cleaning.

"I love you," I yawned.

"I love you too," Jellal smiled, "I'd kiss you but…"

I smiled, "You'll have to kiss me when I'm better then."

"Screw it," Jellal mumbled before he quickly walked over to where I was sitting and kissed me on the cheek, "Being sick would be worth it."

I blushed and smiled once more before kissing him on the lips. Jellal didn't waste time kissing me back. I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes. I was still nervous about being rejected.

"I love you," Jellal said once more once we'd parted.

"I love you too," I whispered, smiling.

I hugged him tightly and yawned, "We should cuddle… I'm tired again."

"I agree," Jellal mumbled before picking me up. He carried me over to the couch, and we laid down. I smiled and curled up against him as he put his arm around me.

 _I was in Jellal's room, sitting on his bed as I tried to wake him up for school. He rolled onto his side - turning away from me - as he mumbled a complaint._

 _I chuckled, "Jellal, you have to get ready for school…"_

 _He shook his head, and I pulled him so he was laying on his back. I poked his face a couple times, but he pushed my hand away each time. Eventually, he just held my hand._

 _Sighing, I laid down next to Jellal and curled up into a ball. He smiled, rolling over so he was facing me. Jellal softly kissed my forehead and put his arm around me, pulling me closer to him._

 _Suddenly, I wasn't next to Jellal anymore. I was walking somewhere alone. I nervously looked behind me before turning down another street. Sighing, I started taking the familiar streets towards Jellal's house._

 _Turning another corner, I ran into someone. I yelped in surprise and attempted to apologize but failed miserably because of my stuttering._

" _Erza," I heard a familiar voice mutter, the hatred clear in his voice._

 _I took a step back and shakily mumbled, "F-Father…"_

 _Then I was no longer in public. I was somewhere I had never seen before._

 _I was in a cold, dark room with brick walls. The floor was cement and there didn't seem to be any light except for the candle in the corner of the room by a mirror. Walking towards it, I looked in the mirror and noticed I had cuts and bruises in almost every visible place. I could even see some glass shards sticking out of my skin._

 _Flinching, I turned around when I heard someone come in the room. It was my father. He had a beer bottle in his hand, and he looked pissed off. I would've backed away, but that would involve me bumping the candle. Instead, I quickly ran to the other side of the room. The darker side._

 _My father walked closer to me, and when he was only a few feet away from me, he chucked the beer bottle at my face. I screamed in pain as the glass shattered against my other wounds and made new wounds._

I woke up screaming and uncontrollably trembling. Jellal woke up instantly, hugging me in a matter of seconds.

"Erza, it's okay," he quickly mumbled, "You're safe. You're with me, at home, on the couch. It's okay,"

I hugged him tightly as I started to cry, "I-It f-felt so r-real…"

"It wasn't," Jellal whispered, "It's okay…"

Taking deep breaths to calm myself down, I slowly loosened my grip around Jellal. I didn't want to risk hurting him. I continued crying though; I couldn't manage to stop myself from crying - though I did try.

"You can cry," Jellal whispered, noticing my attempts. He continued to hug me tightly.

Hugging him tightly once more, I continued to cry until I couldn't anymore. When I finally stopped crying, I attempted to catch my breath.

"It'll be okay," Jellal mumbled, "I promise,"

I nodded, not quite trusting myself to speak yet. Jellal didn't say anything more as he hugged me.

I'd mostly regained my composure when Mary came home. Jellal and I were sitting on the couch, and I'd been leaning against him, trying not to fall back asleep.

"I thought you two weren't going to cuddle," Mary sighed, chuckling, "Anyways, how are you feeling, Erza?"

"Not much better than I was feeling earlier," I responded quietly.

Mary nodded, "Figured. How about we go to the doctor's in a bit?"

"Okay," I mumbled, holding Jellal's hand.

"Yes, Jellal can come with," she chuckled once more.

"Good," I smiled, kissing Jellal's cheek.

Mary just simply shook her head, smiling as she walked out to the kitchen.

I rested my head on Jellal's shoulder once more and murmured, "Thanks for calming me down…"

"No problem," Jellal smiled, then chuckled, "Thank you for not apologizing."

"No problem," I mumbled, "You don't like it when I apologize for dreams, so I won't - or at least, I'll try not to."

"Thank you," Jellal smiled, kissing me on the cheek.

"You're welcome," I mumbled, smiling.

Mary mumbled something I couldn't hear before talking louder, "You guys better start getting ready to go…"

I quietly mumbled a couple of swear words as I got up and went over to my stuff. I grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to change. Before changing, I looked in the mirror and decided it would be best to take a shower.

When I finished showering and getting dressed, I quickly brushed my hair and teeth then went back into the living room.

Jellal had just finished getting ready, coming down the stairs.

"Let's go," Mary smiled, "I've already called in ahead of time,"

 _That's convenient…_

"Alright," I put on my shoes and grabbed a sweatshirt before walking over to Jellal and holding his hand - as soon as he was done putting on his shoes. We left the house and got in Mary's van.

"How was your day?" Mary asked.

"Good," I smiled, "I got to cuddle with Jellal almost all day."

 _Dammit… I'm blushing again…_

"Which could get him sick," she sighed.

"My fault," Jellal chuckled, "Worth it."

"Yup, your fault," I agreed, softly chuckling.

"You better not get sick, Jellal," Mary warned, "Please."

"I'll try not to?" Jellal laughed.

I smiled and looked out the window to distract myself - after all, I was quite nervous since it was worse than the normal sickness I got every year. It was something new to me.

It wasn't long before we stopped at a nice, well kept, white building. A few other cars were parked outside, and Mary parked near the front door.

"Ready?" she asked me.

I nodded, not trusting my voice - as I knew my voice would likely crack. When I got out of the van, I quickly went over to Jellal and held his hand.

Mary led us inside and up to a second floor. There was a large room, with two people at a desk and a few scattered around the many chairs. I stopped, recognizing two. Jellal stopped, looking to me in confusion as Mary talked to the person at the desk.

I took a small step back and whispered, "That's Meredy and…"

 _Simon's mom…_

I didn't allow myself to finish my sentence; I didn't want to.

"Hm?" he looked between us two. Meredy half-heartedly waved upon seeing us. She awkwardly started coming over, not meeting my eyes.

"H-Hi Meredy," I greeted when she was close enough - not looking at her but still looking at Simon's mom.

"Hi Erza…" Meredy said quietly, "How're you feeling?"

"What's going on?" Jellal asked before I could answer, "Something's up,"

Ignoring Jellal's questioning, I looked at Meredy and mumbled, "Simon's here, isn't he?"

Meredy nodded, looking at the ground, "S-Sorry, I-I would've told you sooner, b-but but…"

"What's going on?" Jellal asked slightly more sternly, "I-I'm not quite connecting the dots."

"Th-That's S-Simon's mom over there," I whispered, awkwardly looking down, "And…"

"I-I'm Simons step-sister," Meredy finished for me. Jellal stayed silent.

 _Wait… Did Meredy just say…?_

 _Well shit… And here I was hoping it was just a coincidence._

I got so lost in thought, I almost didn't realize that I had started tightly squeezing Jellal's hand. As soon as I did realize it though, I loosened my grip - almost letting go completely - and mumbled an apology. Jellal didn't say anything. He just squeezed my hand.

"I'm so _so_ sorry…" Meredy mumbled, "I sh-should've b-brought it up sooner, b-but…"

"I-It's fine," I whispered shakily.

"Let's go sit down," Jellal suggested. He sounded bitter, "My mom will be done at the desk soon anyways…"

I nodded and followed Jellal to some seats. As soon as I sat down, I pulled my feet up on the seat and protectively wrapped my arms around myself. Meredy went back to her spot and Mary soon came over.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, sitting next to me.

I just simply shook my head and looked down. Mary didn't say anything; she just hugged me. Closing my eyes, I bit my lip to help prevent memories from flashing through my mind.

After a while, I was finally calm enough to see a doctor.

"Erza Scarlet!" a young nurse called out.

"Are you fine going by yourself?" Mary asked me.

"Y-Yeah…" I nodded, standing up. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure if I would be fine. I walked over to the nurse, picking at my nails to keep myself calm.

"Follow me," she smiled as she headed down a hallway. We approached a nearby scale, which the nurse had me stand on. She brought some measurement device onto my head before recording her results on a clipboard.

"A little underweight, but not by too much," she mumbled, almost to herself, "Average height."

 _Huh… I guess now I do eat more than I did when living with Father… I used to be really underweight - or at least that's what they said the few times I actually went to the doctors._

"Anyways, follow me, it's not too far," she smiled, heading down the corridor. We passed a few rooms before entering one on the left. There was three chairs, a desk, a sink, and a large chair-bed thing.

"The doctor will be here shortly," the nurse smiled, "Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head and sat down in one of the chairs as the nurse left, glancing around the room. It was much cleaner than the one I had been in when I had to get the glass out of my face. There were many posters on the walls promoting healthy behaviors, and some medical instrument things, which I vaguely recalled were used to look in your ear. A few things laid on the desk, such as a box of gloves.

 _This place is really organized… Good. It's almost the opposite of the one Father took me to._

"Hello. You're Erza I suppose?" a lady greeted me as she entered and headed over to the desk. She didn't seem to be much older than the nurse from before.

I nodded, "Yeah…"

 _It_ would _be rude if I avoided talking as much as possible…_

"I'm Doctor Marline," she smiled, opening up her computer, "Nice to meet you. I'll just quickly pull up any files we may have of your medical history."

"Okay," I mumbled, awkwardly looking down. She wouldn't find much for my medical history.

"Well, you've definitely missed most check-ups," she noted, "So you seem to be behind on a few things. Shots, mainly. You should also get your eyes and ears checked. That's not too important at the moment though."

"Alright," I nodded, still not looking up. If there was one thing I remembered from the few times I went to the doctor, it was that I absolutely hated getting shots.

"Don't worry, we can't and won't give you all the shots at once." she smiled, "Anyways, on to why you're here today. Would you like to explain?"

"Uh… Well…" I awkwardly began as I looked up slightly, "I-I haven't b-been feeling well lately…"

 _Fuck… I'm stuttering._

"I heard you've been puking?" Dr. Marline noted.

"Y-Yeah," I nodded, slightly frowning, "I-It h-happens a couple times e-every year…"

"Every year?" Dr. Marline raised an eyebrow, "And how long does it normally last?"

"A c-couple days," I mumbled.

"Has this time been better, normal, or worse?" she asked, clicking a few things on her computer.

"Worse," I replied, "It hasn't l-lasted longer, b-but I did puke more than usual…"

"Okay," she nodded, entering the data into the computer, "What normally causes this?"

"I-I don't know…" I mumbled quietly.

"That's okay," she nodded, "What seems to make it better or worse?"

"I-It usually depends on w-what's going on in my life… Like i-if I have a big test, it's better…" I responded.

"Better?" she nodded, typing into her computer, "What seems to make it worse?"

"People," I whispered, looking away from her.

She nodded, "I hate to ask this, because I know it might be tough, but how's school? Are people nice or…?"

I shook my head, "N-No… They're the c-complete opposite…"

"I see…" she nodded once more, "What about at home?"

"At home… Well…" I mumbled, "Jellal and Mary are very nice… I'm not quite sure about Joe though… He's been in the hospital. I assume he's nice though, I have at least met him before, and he was nice then."

"That's good," the doctor smiled, "Well, not about Joe being in the hospital, but you know what I mean. Have you had any hot or cold flashes, trembling or shaking, shortness of breath, or say a racing heart?"

"All of those," I responded, my voice quiet once again.

"Well, I think I know what's going on then," she nodded, "It seems this may be from anxiety or more so, panic disorder. Does that sound right?"

I nodded, "Y-Yeah... "

"Well, I can write you a prescription for some pills which should help," she smiled, typing something into the computer.

"Okay," I nodded once more as I started to pick at my nails again.

"Now then," she sighed, "You're not going to like this, but you _should_ get shots today. You need quite a few, and we should at least get some of them out of the way today. Do you think you're up for it?"

"Yeah, it's best to get some of them out of the way," I agreed.

She nodded, hitting a few buttons on the computer, "So, I'm not going to lie. They will hurt a little. It'll most likely feel like a pinch, although it might hurt more tomorrow. It shouldn't feel too bad though. Also, please refrain from hitting the nurse. We've had a few bad cases in the past…"

"Right…" I mumbled, "I'll try not to hit the nurse…"

"Perfect," Dr. Marline chuckled, "Now then, I do need to ask you a few mandatory questions. Such as if you drink or smoke, for example."

I answered all of her questions, which were mostly had one word answers. It took a little bit, but luckily the questions themselves were really short and didn't require much thought.

"Well, I'll be on my way, and the nurse will be here shortly to give you your shots," she smiled, closing her computer before pointing to the big chair-bed, "Sit over there please."

"Okay," I responded quietly and went over to where she pointed, sitting down as she left the room. I stared at the posters around the room absently as I waited.

"Hello, Erza," the nurse from before smiled as she entered the room, "You ready for a few shots? I'll try to make it quick."

"Yup," I forced a smile as I awkwardly sat on my hands. Sitting on my hands would help me prevent myself from punching her. The nurse quickly prepared a shot.

"This one shouldn't hurt much," she told me, "Would you rather have me countdown, or would it be better if I just did it?"

"Just do it please. Counting down will give me more time to tense up," I replied.

"Okay," she nodded, "Could you take your sweatshirt off for me please? It goes into the arm, so…"

I nodded and took off my sweatshirt, tying it around my waist. The nurse gently grabbed my arm, and I looked away in an attempt to not tense up. I felt a pinch in my arm, but soon after, it went away and the nurse put a bandaid on.

"Just two more," she smiled.

"Alright," I mumbled. The shots were slightly more painful than the first, but the pain only lasted a few seconds. However, I did have to bite my lip to keep myself from swearing when she gave me the last shot.

"That's all," she smiled once more, "It might hurt a little tomorrow, but otherwise you should be fine. There should be a prescription downstairs for you, but you're free to go."

"Alright, thank you," I smiled, getting up. I left the room and made my way back out to where Jellal and Mary were waiting.

"How was it?" Jellal asked, standing up.

"Good," I shrugged, "I had to get a few shots which sucked."

"Yeah, shots suck," Jellal agreed, chuckling.

Mary stood up, "Anyways, did they figure it out?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, "They said it's a panic disorder."

Mary nodded, "I thought so. Did they give you a prescription?"

"Yup," I responded, "The nurse said it should be downstairs."

"Well, let's go get it then," Mary smiled. We headed down the stairs and over to the right, in a large area with many shelves full of various medicines. There was a counter for buying things and-

I stopped in my tracks. Biting my lip, I held Jellal's hand and half hid myself behind him.

"We can make it to the counter," Jellal mumbled, not really sounding sure, "I doubt he'll do anything…"

"Mhm," I nodded, squeezing Jellal's hand. We followed Mary over to the counter, and I awkwardly stayed as close to Jellal as I could get.

"Prescription for Erza Scarlet?" Mary asked the lady on the other side of the counter, who nodded and headed off.

"Do I _have_ to be here?" I heard Meredy whine, "Why couldn't I have _stayed home_?"

"Last time you were home alone, you ran off." Simon's mom said bluntly.

"But now I'm in public near _him_ …" Meredy mumbled.

"Hey, I'm not too thrilled about it either," Simon snapped, causing me to flinch.

My grip on Jellal's hand tightened ever so slightly.

"Both of you shut up," Simon's mom sighed.

"Fine," Meredy mumbled.

There was a moment of silence as we paid for my prescription. The lady put the bottle into a white paper bag and gave it to Mary.

"Hello, Erza," Simon smiled as we turned around.

"F-Fuck off," I mumbled, hiding behind Jellal.

"Excuse me?" Simon raised an eyebrow, "I was only saying 'hi'…"

"And we're not saying 'hi' back." Jellal muttered, walking past Simon. I quickly followed, not leaving Jellal's side.

"Well, that's rude," Simon muttered behind us.

Mary simply sighed as she caught up to us. We headed over to the van. I quickly got in the van and sat down, pulling my feet onto the seat and wrapping my arms around myself. Jellal sat next to me, quickly hugging me before buckling.

"I think you should stay home tomorrow too," Mary told me, "Just to be safe,"

"Me too?" Jellal asked.

"Yes, you too," Mary sighed, "Although there is zero chance of you getting sick, so I bet I know what you'll be doing…"

I smiled and hugged Jellal - kissing him on the cheek as I did so - before quickly buckling.

 **Aww! That's a cute chapter ending!**

 **Anyways, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter!**


	21. Chapter 18 and a Half

**Hey guys! So sorry for not updating for a while! I've been lazy and swamped with homework! Anyway, this is a half chapter written in Meredy's POV. My friend, Leaf of Shining Moss wrote this. Enjoy!**

I sat on the bus on the way home from school. My knees were tucked up against my chest, and I wrapped my arms around them as I stared out the window. If only the bus ride could last forever.

"Merry..." my younger sister poked my side, causing me to flinch, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Lily," I mumbled quietly, glancing at her. She was just a kindergartener. Although I wasn't much older being in third grade, she especially didn't deserve to go through this. Lily didn't even know what was happening. I couldn't bring myself to explain it to her. My heart was already in pieces; I didn't need to do the same to her.

"Liar!" Lily chuckled, "You always mumble when you lie!"

"I do not." I protested quietly, doing my best not to mumble once more.

Lily seemed to get a kick out of this, "You do! You do! Merry's a liar!"

"Stop it," I moved my backpack slightly to rest between us. Lily could be so annoying sometimes. So loud. As much as I loved her, she needed to learn to be quiet. It was awful. I hadn't been able to finish my book because she pestered me so much.

"Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!" Lily loudly called out. At this point quite a few others on the bus were starting to get annoyed. They covered their ears, a few mumbling words I knew were bad. Dad had always insisted I didn't say those words.

"Liar! Liar!" Lily laughed. How was this fun for her?

"Shut it!" I turned and yelled to her, "Can't you see you're being annoying, _again_?"

Lily stopped, and I could see tears coming to her eyes. Why did I say that? The bus doors opened for our stop and Lily ran out.

"Wait, Lily!" I called after her, following her out of the bus, "I didn't mean it! It- It's just-"

She wasn't listening. She just wanted to go home. To Mommy. To Daddy. I ran after her. Being older than her, it was easy to catch up, but I slowed as we neared home. The last thing I wanted was to go home, but now I had to deal with Lily, too?

I opened the door for Lily, who was ignoring me. She immediately ran to Mommy and I slowly followed her, taking my time to look around.

Everything was in boxes. The coffee table and the TV that once hung on the wall was gone, leaving only the couch and a pile of boxes left in the livingroom. Daddy had been packing up the kitchen, but he went to check on Lily and I snuck past him.

Entering the kitchen and dining room, everything I saw was also in similar brown boxes. The dining room had been stripped of everything, and not even the table was left behind. I wandered aimlessly in the small room, waiting.

"Meredy!" Mommy called, angry. I quickly went to her side, where she was crouching by Lily. Lily was sucking on her thumb, not meeting my eyes. Daddy had already gone into another room.

"What is it, Mommy?" I asked, despite knowing the answer.

"Lily says you yelled at her," Mommy sighed, "Then you let her walk home from the stop before yours. Is this true?"

"Yes, but-" I tried to argue, but I was only cut off.

"You can't treat your sister this way!" Mommy scolded me, "She could've got hurt, walking home like that."

"I"m sorry," I mumbled, "It won't happen again,"

"No," Mommy shook her head, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

"What?" I looked up in surprise, "I don't get it."

"When me and Daddy split, we're going to split you two up too," she told me, causing me to flinch in surprise, "Lily already agreed to this, as did Daddy and I. Daddy will take you with him and I'll take Lily with me."

"B-But-" I shook my head, trying to clear away tears as I sat down on the floor, "Lily agreed? Are you sure she understood? You can't do this… you can't…"

 _What did I do wrong? I didn't mean to be mean to Lily… I didn't…_

"Go help Daddy," Mommy told me, picking up Lily and carrying her to the other room. I slowly raised myself to my feet, stumbling as I ran to Daddy and hugged his leg.

"There, there…" he sighed, picking me up so we could actually hug each other, "It's okay, it's okay…"

" _Wh-Why?"_ I cried into his shoulder, " _Why?_ "

I walked home from school. Normally I could make it to the bus in time, but I needed to talk to one of my teachers, and it ended up taking a bit of time. Now that I had to walk home, it would only take that much longer. At least I got time to myself. Not that I didn't get a lot of that at school already.

I sighed as the house came into view. The lights were on which meant that _someone_ was home and that _someone_ knew I was late. Just great. I had to deal with this shit too?

As I entered the house, I paused. Simon was working on homework on the dinner table, which was odd as he was usually out hanging with his friends.

" _You're here_ ," I sighed in disgust, debating turning around and leaving. Simon looked to me and raised an eyebrow.

"I still don't get why you hate me so much," he sighed, "Shouldn't we be like _siblings_?"

It almost felt like he had punched me.

" _Step-siblings_ ," I pointed out, glaring at him, "And I really don't care if you know why I hate you."

I set my bags down and started to head to my room, but the asshole kept talking.

"Really, just tell me." he insisted, "I won't bother you about it, then."

I turned and glared at him, "Well, I know about _Erza_ , for starters."

His expression went from confusion, to surprise, to pure and utter hatred in a matter of seconds. To think a single name could cause so much emotion. I turned to go to my room once more.

"Then I think you know to keep your mouth shut," he called after me. I paused, shuddering at the meaning behind his words as I ran up to my room and locked the door behind me.

"Come on, let's go!" Amanda called out from the entryway, "Everyone go out to the car,'

"Do I _have_ to go?" I complained to my step-mom, "It's _Simon's_ doctor appointment…"

"Yes!" she snapped, "I obviously can't leave you here alone!"

I sighed, putting on my shoes and a coat before running ahead of her to get to the car. I sat in the back behind the driver's seat. Farther away from Simon - who always got the passenger's seat - and out of view from Amanda.

I stayed silent on the way to the doctors, resisting the urge to mock Simon's black eye. He had gotten into yet another fight. I was almost impressed somebody actually decided to punch him.

Actually, it might've been Ultear.

"We're here." Amanda called me out of my daydreaming, "Get out of the car!"

I nodded, heading into the clean building and following her to the second floor. I quickly took a seat in the corner of the lobby while they talked to the people at the front desk. It wasn't long before the two sat next to me. It wasn't too long after that when Simon went into the doctor's office.

I picked at my nails, bored out of my mind. I'd left my phone at home on accident, and the paper and magazines were too boring and would never keep my attention.

I didn't read much anyways.

I looked up upon seeing sudden movement only to see Mary, Jellal and _Erza_. I froze. Of all times to be caught in public with my ' _family'_ , it had to be _now._

I gave a small wave as Jellal looked over, trying to fake a smile. I sighed, standing up and heading over to them.

"H-Hi Meredy," Erza greeted me while looking past me and to Amanda. She would recognize her. She dated her son after all.

"Hi Erza…" I all but whispered, trying not to stutter myself, "How're you feeling?"

"What's going on?" Jellal intervened, stopping me from changing the subject, "Something's up,"

Erza looked to me, fear clear in her eyes, "Simon's here, isn't he?"

I nodded, looking away. I shuddered as I responded, "S-Sorry, I-I would've told you sooner, b-but but…"

"What's going on?" Jellal asked once more, "I-I'm not quite connecting the dots."

"Th-That's S-Simon's mom over there," Erza whispered, looking down, "And…"

"I-I'm Simons step-sister," I finished. I saw Jellal flinch slightly in surprise. Erza started shaking slightly, tightly gripping Jellal's hand that _wasn't_ in a fist. She flinched once more, apologizing as she released her grip.

 _I'm such an awful person. I should've told her. Will she hate me for keeping it from her? Will she hold a grudge? Does she still want to be friends? WIll she hate me?_

 _Will she hate me for not stopping him?_

"I'm so _so_ sorry…" I mumbled, causing myself to flinch. Was I _lying_? I continued, "I sh-should've b-brought it up sooner, b-but…"

"I-It's fine," Erza whispered, saving me from having to continue.

"Let's go sit down," Jellal decided. He sounded mad. If Erza wouldn't hold a grudge, he would, "My mom will be done at the desk soon anyways…"

I excused myself back to my spot as they went to the other corner. I wiped tears away from my eyes as I sat down.

"You shouldn't be friends with that slut," Amanda sighed, not looking up from her paper.

"I know," I mumbled, not trusting myself to argue the truth. I didn't deserve to be her friend anyways.

 **I hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review and let me know what you thought!**


	22. Chapter 19

**You guys get two chapters today because I haven't updated in a while, and I feel bad! Enjoy the chapter!**

When I woke up the next morning, I smiled as I found myself laying next to Jellal on the couch. I inched closer to him, burying my face against his chest.

I sleepily mumbled, "I love you…"

"I love you too," he mumbled back, hugging me.

I smiled once more and put my arm around him.

"What are we going to do when we get hungry?" I whispered, "I most certainly do _not_ want to get up…"

"Magic," Jellal muttered "That or we starve,"

I softly chuckled, "Magic it is. That or we just suck it up and get up anyways…"

Soon after, I heard Jellal softly snoring.

 _Of course he would fall back asleep…_

I very slowly pulled away from him and got up - careful not to wake him - and I walked out to the kitchen. When I checked the time, I was surprised to see that it was just past ten o'clock. Sighing, I started to make breakfast. I decided to make pancakes and eggs. Since we didn't have to go to school, I could make a slightly larger breakfast.

"Hey, you ditched me…" Jellal complained as he got up.

I chuckled, "Well… I decided I was hungry since I started talking about food."

"You still ditched me," Jellal chuckled, sitting down, "Anyways, what are you making? It smells good,"

"Eggs and pancakes," I smiled.

"Sounds amazing!" Jellal smiled.

"None for you!" I teased, "You have to magically get your food."

"Fine, I'll get it myself," Jellal sighed, heading over. Instead of getting food however, he kissed me on the lips. I didn't waste any time kissing him back. However, I did cut our kiss short.

I whispered, chuckling, "The pancakes will be burnt if I kiss you much longer."

"Dammit," Jellal chuckled, rolling his eyes.

I laughed and flipped the pancakes before kissing him on the lips again. Wrapping my arms around him, I closed my eyes and tried to keep my mind focused on Jellal. If I thought about anything else, it was likely I'd have bad memories flashing through my mind.

"I love you," Jellal murmured when we parted.

"I love you too," I mumbled, hesitating before adding, "Our food is probably burnt now…"

"Worth it," Jellal decided, smiling.

I turned off the stove before hugging him and whispering, "Definitely."

Jellal hugged me back before we separated, and I checked on the food. By some miracle it wasn't burnt, and I quickly made two plates. I handed one to Jellal before sitting next to him with my own.

"Looks amazing - like usual," he smiled, taking a bite of his pancakes, "Tastes amazing too,"

"Thank you." I smiled, taking a bite of my eggs.

"No problem," Jellal smiled, taking another bite.

After we finished eating, Jellal picked up the mess despite my protests. He had finished eating before me and used the extra the time to clean up before I was done. When I was done he took my plate and started the dishwasher.

"You can wash the tables?" he chuckled.

I sighed, "Okay. At least I get to do something."

I got up and grabbed a washcloth. After getting some soapy water on it, I walked over to the table and washed it then went to the counters and washed those as well. I put the washcloth back in the sink and hugged Jellal.

"I refuse to let go of you," I smiled.

"Oh, no!" Jellal chuckled, before simply picking me up and bringing me to the couch. We laid down, and I scooted closer to Jellal as he put his arm around me.

"This is what you get for ditching me," Jellal chuckled, hugging me.

I giggled, "Then I should ditch you more often."

"No…" Jellal grumbled, clutching me tighter, "You won't get a chance."

I laughed, "Okay, then I'm stuck with you I suppose…"

"Perfect," Jellal nodded. I attempted to move even closer to him, but it wasn't quite possible to get any closer as we were already as close as we could get.

Smiling, I closed my eyes and mumbled, "Goodnight…"

"Goodnight," Jellal mumbled.

 _I was in an all too familiar room. Simon's room. My body immediately began to tremble, and the trembling got worse when I saw Simon._

 _He smiled and walked over to me. I backed up until I hit a wall. My heart was racing as I looked around for a quick way to get away from him. None. I'd have to go towards him to get to the door._

 _Simon put his hands on my waist and pulled me closer to him. Before I could do anything to get away from him, he kissed me on the lips. I quickly pulled back, causing me to slam my back against the wall._

" _Simon no," I shakily whispered - completely unable to get my voice louder than a whisper._

 _He grabbed my wrist before I could move away from him. I gasped in pain at his tight grip and attempted to free myself from his grasp. It didn't even come close to working._

" _Erza!"_ Jellal shouted in my ear, causing me to flinch away. He was hugging me tightly.

I started crying as I hugged him tightly, "I'm sorry… I-It was _awful_."

"No apologizing," Jellal argued, "It's okay…"

"R-Right… S-Sor-" I started but cut myself off, slightly shaking my head. My grip around Jellal tightened as I cried some more.

"It's okay," Jellal mumbled, "You're at home. You're safe."

I took deep, shaky breaths as I attempted to calm myself down. In attempt to calm down, I buried my face against Jellal's chest.

"You're safe," Jellal whispered as he slowly loosened his grip on me. He was still hugging me, but not as tight as before.

"I'm safe," I quietly agreed, nodding slightly and loosening my grip around him.

"It'll be okay," Jellal kissed me on the cheek.

"Mhm," I whispered, reassuring myself, "I'll be okay… Yeah… I'll be okay."

"I love you, Erza," Jellal hugged me ever so slightly tighter, pulling me closer to him, however that was possible.

"I love you too," I murmured, gently kissing his cheek before closing my eyes once again. We laid there for a few minutes in silence before I heard Jellal start snoring again as he loosened his grip on me.

I rolled over ever so slightly so I was laying on my back. It wasn't a comfortable position, but that was perfect. I didn't want to fall asleep again. Deciding against getting up - since that would likely wake Jellal up - I just simply stared at the ceiling.

 _Dammit… I wish I didn't keep having dreams about Simon… Jellal gets worried when I have bad dreams._

Sighing, I carefully got up and went up to Jellal's room to grab his computer so I could play some games. I'd get very bored and fall asleep if I didn't. After I grabbed his computer, I went back downstairs and sat down on the end of the couch. Jellal moved slightly as I sat, but he didn't wake.

I started playing some random game I found, and before I knew it, Mary came in the front door.

"I'm back early!" she smiled, "How are you two?"

"Asleep," Jellal groaned.

I chuckled, "We're fine. Jellal has been sleeping all day."

"Not _all_ day," he shook his head, "Just most of it,"

Mary sighed, setting her bags down on the table, "Don't you two have homework to do? I know it's a Friday, but you shouldn't wait until Sunday night…"

"Maybe?" I responded, smiling.

"Do your homework," Mary sighed, "You'll appreciate it later."

"Alright," I sighed, "Come on Jellal. Time to get up."

"Fine, I guess I'll get up..." Jellal groaned, getting up to his feet.

I chuckled and hugged him, "Yup! Otherwise I'd have to ditch you again."

"Exactly," Jellal sighed, "Anyways, I'll print off the homework, I guess…"

Smiling, I let go of him and handed him his computer.

"Well... I did manage to ditch you a second time," I stated.

"Lies," Jellal chuckled, grabbing his computer, "All lies."

I sighed, rolling my eyes as we headed upstairs to Jellal's room. He quickly printed the rest of the homework and came back with about five pages for each of us.

"Do I _have_ to do my Economics homework?" I grumbled.

"Well, _no_ ," Jellal sighed, "But you also shouldn't get a zero…"

"But… But… It's _boring_ ," I complained.

 _And I don't really know what to do on my homework… In class I'm too busy trying to stay calm since I sit next to Simon…_

"Then start with science?" Jellal shrugged.

" _Fine_ ," I sighed, rolling my eyes.

I ended up not doing my Economics homework. Instead, I fell asleep while Jellal finished his homework.

I woke up to someone lightly shaking my arm. Groaning, I rolled over and curled into a ball.

"Erza, it's time for dinner," Jellal sighed.

"Nope," I mumbled sleepily, "Time for sleep."

Jellal lightly shook my arm once more, and I pushed his hand away.

"Fine," Jellal loudly sighed, and I heard him start to leave the room, "No steak for you…"

I got up and quickly ran over to him, "I changed my mind. Time for dinner."

Jellal chuckled, "Thought you'd say that."

"Well, I can't say 'no' to steak," I smiled.

"You're food is getting cold!" Mary called up from downstairs. We quickly hurried to get to our spots, where sure enough there was large plates of steak, mashed potatoes, and corn. Mary set down two cups of pepsi as we sat.

I started eating my mashed potatoes as soon as I sat down. We ate mostly in silence other than Mary asking us how our day was and what we did - or what I did - all day. She already knew Jellal slept mostly all day.

Monday morning came, and it took me a while to convince myself to get up after Mary woke me up. After a long while of hesitation, I sighed and started to get ready for school.

It took me longer than usual to get ready because I decided to take a shower, so I ended up waking Jellal up a little later than usual.

"Took you long enough," he chuckled, rolling over, "But still… Do I have to go?"

I smiled, "Yes, you have to go because I have to go. In which case, you better hurry or no breakfast for you. I hope you don't mind scrambled eggs."

"I don't mind," Jellal smiled, "I'll be ready in a minute,"

"Alright," I left the room and went downstairs to start making breakfast. Jellal came downstairs just as I finished making the food - as usual.

"Looks good, tastes good," Jellal smiled before I even handed him a bowl.

I chuckled, handing him a bowl of scrambled eggs, "It has more flavor when you actually eat it."

"Oh, let me try that," Jellal quickly ate a bite, "You're right. Looks good, tastes great."

I smiled and took a bite of my eggs. We ate in silence, and - as usual - Jellal finished before me and cleaned up the mess. When I was done, he took my bowl and fork and put them in the dishwasher.

"We better hurry or we might actually miss the bus," Jellal sighed, "Even with me getting up right away."

"Oh shit," I muttered, "Right… That's probably because I didn't get up right away. Whoops? Well, let's go then."

We quickly put on our shoes, and I grabbed a sweatshirt before we headed out the door and to the bus stop. We just barely made it to the bus stop in time; the bus got there just as we did.

"You're alive!" Meredy cheered upon seeing us, causing more than a few heads to turn her way, "I mean, I knew that. I saw you the other day…"

I chuckled, sitting down by her, "Well now you know we didn't die between then and now."

"Exactly!" she chuckled as Jellal sat down by me. I leaned against Jellal and rested my head on his shoulder - that was honestly in attempt to keep myself from panicking. All morning I tried to keep myself from thinking about the fact that Simon would be at school. Jellal gently grabbed my hand.

"I'll stop by your locker after school," Meredy whispered, almost to herself, "My last class isn't too far away."

I slightly nodded in response.

Soon we were at the school. Jellal and I quickly went to our lockers then to Science. We sat down in our usual spots and waited for class to start.

"Do you have some of your homework done?" Minerva asked as she entered the room, "I don't need it all done, but some would be nice."

"Yeah," I nodded and took out the Science homework I did over the weekend. Jellal also took out his homework, and we handed it to her. She smiled as she took it and wordlessly went to her desk and started reading.

Science was fairly peaceful - I wouldn't expect anything less since Minerva was the teacher. Nobody with common sense would disobey Minerva's rules. My other classes weren't as peaceful though, and lunch wasn't much better. Let's just say that I had to keep Jellal from punching people _many times_ , and most times, it was very difficult to keep him from doing so.

Economics was twice as bad though. We ended up getting a project, and guess who we had to work with… The people sitting fucking next to us, so for me, it was _Simon._ I plainly told him I wouldn't work on the project with him though.

"Come on, Erza," Simon insisted, "It's _just a school project_ …"

"I'm not working on it with you," I muttered, "I'd rather fail."

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. Clover came over to us, "I see you two haven't started."

Simon sighed, "Erza refuses to work with me."

"Erza, why won't you work with him?" Mrs. Clover asked, smiling.

"He's an asshole," I bluntly replied.

"Language!" Mrs. Clover glared at me, "And why do you say that, Erza?"

"I say that because it's true," I grumbled, "Can't I just work on it alone like I have in the past? I'm sure Simon can join another group…"

"This project requires two people," Mrs. Clover shook her head, "You would know that if you were paying attention…"

"Kind of hard to pay attention when you're scared of the person next to you," I mumbled quietly - to the point whereas I could barely hear myself.

"Hm?" Mrs. Clover looked to me, "Say that again?"

I shook my head, "It's nothing… I was just talking to myself… I suppose I'll work with him, but don't expect me to put a lot of effort into it. I'm not going to pretend that I don't hate him."

"Fine," Mrs. Clover nodded, satisfied with my answer, "I'll grade your two portions separately."

I sighed in relief as she walked away. She wasn't one of my favorite teachers, and I most certainly hated it when she gave us group projects - which she did often.

"So, are you _actually_ going to work on this?" Simon asked me, placing the rubric between us.

"Nope," I shook my head, "Like I said, I'd rather fail."

"What, you can't even pretend to _not hate me_?" Simon rolled his eyes, "You know, you used to actually _like_ me…"

"And now I fucking hate you, so deal with it," I glared at him, "You know _damn well_ why I hate you."

"Really? I could use a reminder," he snickered.

 _I am so glad I have a lot of self control or else he'd definitely have a black eye._

"Shut the fuck up," I grumbled.

"No?" he laughed, bringing the rubric closer to him so he could start to work.

For the rest of class, I stared at my desk, twirling my pencil around. As soon as class ended, I quickly left and went to my locker. Meredy was already waiting there, and she smiled as she saw me.

"You survived," she chuckled, "Congratulations."

"Simon almost _didn't_ ," I mumbled, opening my locker.

"Damn." she sighed, "That means he actually _did_."

"Yeah," I nodded, "Sadly he did."

We walked out to Mary's van, and I quietly got in. I really wasn't prepared to talk to anyone else yet as I was still in a pissy mood from Economics. It wasn't long before Jellal sat down next to me, taking my hand as Mary started to leave.

"How was school?" Mary asked, "Same as always?"

"Yup," I mumbled, leaning against Jellal.

"I love you," Jellal whispered, just loud enough for me to hear him.

I smiled and quietly murmured, "I love you too."

"Hm?" Meredy looked over to me."Did I hear what I think I heard…?"

"Nope," I shook my head, "You heard nothing."

" _Sure…"_ Meredy rolled her eyes, "So I guess you don't love Jellal…"

I hugged Jellal and responded, "I definitely love him."

"I definitely love you too," Jellal hugged me back, while Meredy let out an exaggerated 'aww' sound. I heard Mary say something, but I couldn't make it out. I blushed and hid my face against Jellal's chest.

 _I'm not blushing. Definitely not blushing._

"Hey," Mary called back to us, "It's not safe to sit sideways hugging each other…"

I let go of Jellal and awkwardly looked down, trying to hide the fact that I was _still_ blushing.

Soon, we were at Jellal's house, and we quickly went inside. Meredy had basically invited herself over, but that wasn't anything unusual of course. Since Jellal and I couldn't necessarily cuddle with Meredy over, we decided to do our homework and get that out of the way.

"I hate Economics," Meredy mumbled from besides me, "Clover is so fucking annoying…"

"Clover is the whole reason why I almost murdered Simon today," I responded.

"Do you have to do that stupid project?" Meredy suddenly perked up, "I bet I could convince Clover to make us partners, despite being in different classes! We should!"

"Yes! _Please._ Anything _but_ working with Simon," I responded, "I didn't do anything at all during class because I was _supposed_ to work with him."

"Here!" Meredy pulled her seat closer to me, "I can show you what to do!"

"What about your partner, Meredy? Jellal asked, glancing over.

"Ah, I hate them anyways," Meredy shrugged, dismissing him.

I chuckled, "Well, then I guess there's no problem there."

"Yup!" Meredy smiled, "I'll email Clover now!"

"Okay," I smiled, "I am so glad you also have Economics, otherwise I'd get yet another F in that class."

"Ouch," Meredy winced, "Yeah, let's fix that."

"Yeah," I nodded, "I _really_ need to get my grade up in that class."

"Feel free to ask me if you have questions!" Meredy smiled.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," I smiled.

We worked on homework until it was time to eat. Mary called us down for chicken strips and fries. She made extras, which Meredy was happy about. We sat down in our regular spots, with Meredy and Mary eating at the table and us at the kitchen island.

It didn't take us long to start eating. Before I could even finish my plate of food, Meredy was already getting more.

After dinner, Meredy went home. Jellal and I went back up to his room because Jellal had to finish some homework still.

"You can steal the bed," Jellal told me as he sat back down.

"Yay," I smiled laying down on his bed and curling into a ball. I quietly added, "If I fall asleep - which I likely will - you better wake me up when you're done with your homework so I can cuddle with you."

"I will," Jellal smiled, "I promise,"

"Good," I murmured, closing my eyes. Soon enough, I was sound asleep.

 **Aww! What a cute ending!**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

 **Oh, and please check out my other stories. I mostly write Jerza, but I've started writing some Sting x Rogue. Oh, and sometime this month, I will be starting a genderbent Jerza fanfic that someone requested me to write. Also, there is a oneshot someone requested me to write like a year ago, and I'm** ** _still_** **working on that. However, that should be up sometime this month or next month.**


	23. Quick Authors Note

**Hello people! No, this isn't a note saying I'm discontinuing another story. I just wanted to thank you guys for sticking around for so long although I take ages to update. Well, the good news is, you don't have to wait ages for the rest of the story! Though I've been dealing with a lot of shit this past year, I have completed the story; I just wasn't motivated enough to post it. So throughout the next week or so, I well be posting the remaining chapters.**


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